lEx  IGtbrts 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"£ver'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/newyorkillustrat00unse_1 


NEW  YORK 


ILLUSTRATED: 


A  PICTORIAL  DELINEATION  OF  STREET  SCENES,  BUILDINGS, 
RIVER  VIEWS,  AND  OTHER  FEATURES  OF  THE 
GREAT  METROPOLIS. 


" LIBERTY  ENLIGHTENING  THE  WORLD," 

BY  BARTHOLDI. 
(To  be  erected  on  Bedloe'3  Island,  in  the  harbor.) 


N E  W  YORK: 
D.  APPLET  ON  &   COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS, 

1,   3,  &   5  BOND  STREET. 

1881. 


COPVRIGFIT  BY 

PPLETON  &  COMPANY. 
1881. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

THE  SITUATION  ------ 

5 

STREET  SCENES   

9 

BUILDINGS  - 

.  42 

CHURCHES  ------- 

67 

RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES  - 

.  81 

ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES  - 

101 

PARKS  AND  PLEASURE-PLACES 

-  123 

BROOKLYN          -  -  

>t?         -  136 

LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


PAGE 

"  Liberty  enlightening  the  World"  Title-page. 

The  Situation. 

New  York  from  Fort  Wadsworth,  Staten  Island. ...  5 

New  York  from  the  Hudson   6 

Lower  Part  of  the  City  of  New  York,  from  the  Bay. .  7 

View  of  New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights   8 

Street  Scenes. 
Wall  Street,  with  Treasury  Building  at  the  right,  and 

Trinity  Church  at  the  head  of  the  Street   9 

Drexel  Building,  corner  of  Broad  and  Wall  Streets, 

and  Stock  Exchange   10 

Nassau  Street,  north  from  Wall  Street   11 

Pine  Street..   12 

Upper  part  of  Nassau  Street  13 

Fulton  Street,  looking  toward  Brooklyn  Ferry   15 

The  Approach  to  the  East  Kiver  Bridge   17 

Broadway,  south  from  the  Post-Office   19 

Union  Square   21 

Madison  Square  and  Twenty-third  Street   22 

Broadway,  West  Side  of  Madison  Square   23 

"  A  May-Day  in  Fifth  Avenue  "   25 

Twenty-third  Street,  from  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue.  26 

Fifth  Avenue  Scenes   27 

Fifth  Avenue,  at  corner  of  Twenty-first  Street   28 

Thirty-fourth  Street,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue   29 

Fifth  Avenue. — The  Vanderbilt  Mansions   30 

Coaching  Day. — Scene  in  Fifth  Avenue   31 

Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-sixth  Street   32 


PAGE 

Park  Avenue   33 

Elevated  Eailway  in  Third  Avenue   34 

Corner  of  Sixth  Avenue  and  Twenty-third  Street, 

showing  Elevated  Railway  and  Station  35 

The  West  Side  Elevated  Railroad  at  110th  Street. ...  37 

West  Street,  near  Canal  Street   38 

South  Street,  below  Burling  Slip   39 

Market- Wagons  Stand   40 

Tenement-Houses   41 

Buildings. 

City  Hall  and  New  Court-House   42 

Custom-House,  Wall  Street   43 

Post-Office  and  U.  S.  Court  Building   44 

Interior,  Post-Office   45 

City  Prison,  or  "  The  Tombs  "   46 

Court-House,  Sixth  Avenue  and  Tenth  Street   47 

U.  S.  Barge  Office,  Battery   48 

Grand  Central  Depot   49 

Columbia  College.    (New Building.)   50 

Astor  Library   51 

Lenox  Library   51 

Normal  College   52 

St.  Joseph's  Home,  Lafayette  Place   53 

Trinity-Parish  School   54 

New  York  Hospital,  West  Fifteenth  Street,  between 

Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues   55 

Roosevelt  Hospital,  Ninth  Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth 

Street   56 

Mount  Sinai  Hospital,  Sixty-sixth  Street   57 


iv 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


1'AOK 

The  Lenox  Hospital   57 

Masonic  Temple,  on  Twenty-third  Street  and  Sixth 

Avenue   58 

Booth's  Theatre,  corner  of  Twenty-thin  I  Street  and 

Sixth  Avenue   58 

The  Grand  Opera-House,  corner  of  Twenty-third 

Street  and  Eighth  Avenue   59 

Seventh  Regiment  Armory   59 

Union  League  Club   60 

"  The  Victoria  "   61 

"  The  Florence  "   69 

Park  Avenue  Hotel   63 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Company's  Building   64 

The  "Tribune"  and  "Times"  Building,  Printing- 

House  Square   65 

New  York  Life-Insuranoe  Building   >'<>'> 

A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co.'s,  Broadway,  from  Ninth  to 

Tenth  Street   66 

Chubohxs. 

Trinity  Church  and  Martyrs'  Monument   67 

St.  Paul's  Chapel— View  from  Graveyard   68 

Grace  Church,   corner  of  Broadway   and  Tenth 

Street   69 

St.  Augustine  Chapel,  East  Houston  Street   TO 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  Fifth  Avenue   71 

Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  ITorty- 

fifth  Street  , .  72 

Church,  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  and  Sixty- 
third  Street   73 

Synagogue,  Lexington  Avenue  and  Fifty-fifth  Street  7 1 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Madison  Avenue,  cor- 
ner of  Forty-second  Street   75 

St.  Bartholomew's,  Madison  Avenue   7«i 

Temple  Emanuel,  corner  of  Filth  Avenue  and  Forty- 
third  Street   77 

St.  Thomas's  Church,  comer  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 

Fifty-third  Street   78 

Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-fifth 

Street   79 

St.  George's  Church,  corner  of  Sixteenth  Street  and 

Rutherford  Place   80 

Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  Twenty-ninth  Street, 
near  Fifth  Avenue   80 

River  and  Wharf  Scenes. 

Scene  on  the  North  River   81 

View  of  the  Bay  from  the  Battery   83 

Landing-Steps,  west  of  the  Battery   84 

North  River  Flotilla   85 

Ferry-Boat  at  Night   85 

An  Ocean-Steamer  in  Dock   86 

An  Ocean-Steamer  outward  bound   87 

North  River  Oyster-Boats   88 

The  Canal- Boats,  East  River   89 

Wharf-Scene   90 

Fish-Market,  East  River   91 

Fishing-Boats  in  Dock   91 

East  River  Bridge,  between  New  York  and  Brook- 
lyn "   93 

Dry-Dock   94 

Navy-Yard,  Brooklyn   95 

A  Misty  Morning   96 

Harlem  Bridge   97 


Ihukiii  River 
Hil'Ii  Bridge. . 


a  Holiday. 


Akc  un k< m  kai.  Features. 
Roof  and  Windows,  corner  Fifth  Avenue  and  Rft] 
seventh  Street  

Fa..ad<*,   Fift\  -Seventh    Street,    hetweeli    rifth  an<l 

Sixth  Avenues  

Facades,  Madison  Avenue,  near  Fortieth  Street  

Facades,  Fifty-seventh  Street,  between  Fifth  and 
I        Madison  Avenues  

Facade,  Columbia  College  

Facade,  Fifty -seventh  Street,  \ve>t  oi  Fifth  Avenue 
,  Porch  and  Window,  Fifty-seventh  Street,  west  of 
Fillh  Avenue  

Porches  in  Wall  Street,  below  Broud  

I'oreh  of  Morse  Buildinj:,  Nassui.  .  Miner  of  Bcek- 
rnan  Street  

Entrance  to  the  Acadcnn  of  Design  

I'oreh  of  Trinity  School,  Twenty-fifth  Street.  .  . . 

Porch  of  the  Dry-Dock  Savings-Bank  

I'oreh  of  Church       Heavenh  Best,  Filth  Avenue, 
near  Forty-fifth  Street  

Old-style  Doorway  

A  Fifth  Avenue  Porch  *  

I'oreh  on  Fifth  Avenue  

Porch  in  East  Thirty-sixth  Street  

Porch,  Thirty-ninth  Street.  cast  of  Park  Avenue... 

Tower— Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-seventh  Street  ... 

Oriel  Window— Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-seventh 
Street  

Bay-Window— Fitty -seventh  Street,  east  of  Firth 
Avenue  

Window — Thirty-fourth  Street  

I  Gable — East  Thirty-seventh  Street  

j  Mansard  Roof— Firth  Avenue  and  Fifty-sixth  Street 
■  Tower — Trinity  School  

Turret— Fifth  Avenue,  near  Twenty -second  Street. 
,  Belvedere — Thirty-sixth  Street,  near  Park  Avenue. 
!  Tower— Fiftieth  Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue  

Tower — New  Court-House,  Sixth  Avenue  

Parks  and  Pleasure-Places. 

Central  Park   123 

The  Mall,  Central  Park   125 

Terrace,  Central  Park   127 

Central  Park  Drives   128 

!  The  Obelisk,  Central  Park   129 

Riverside  Park   131 

Jerome  Park   132 

Coney  Island  as  it  was   133 

Scenes  at  Coney  Island   134,  135 

Brooklyn. 

i  Ferry-House,  Brooklyn   136 

I  City  Hall,  with  Kings  County  Court-House  and 

Municipal  Building  in  the  rear   137 

1  Academy  of  Music  and  Academy  of  Design   138 

Long  Island  Historical  Society  Building   139 

Brooklyn  Scenes — Clinton  Avenue  ;  Clinton  Street ; 

On  the  Heights   140 

Prospect  Park   141 

Greenwood  Cemetery   142 

Bird's-eye  View  of  Atlantic  Docks   144 


101 

102 
103 

MM 
lor, 

106 

107 

108 

109 
110 
111 
112 

113 
114 
114 
115 
115 
116 
117 

117 

118 
114 
118 
119 
120 
120 
121 
121 
122 


NEW 


YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


THE  SITUATION. 


New  York  from  Fort  Wadsworth,  Staten  Island. 


HAT  Bos  well  said  of  London  is  scarcely 
less, true  of  New  York.  Its  aspects  are 
manifold,  and,  while  each  man  finds  in  it  the 
Mecca  of  his  pursuits,  it  comprehends  not  one 
class  alone,  but  the  whole  of  human  life  in  all  its 
variety.  The  city  of  New  York  now  includes 
Manhattan  Island;  Blackwell's,  Ward's,  and  Ran- 
dall's Islands  in  the  East  River ;  Governor's,  Bed- 
loe's,  and  Ellis's  Islands  in  the  bay,  occupied  by 
the  United  States  Government;  and  a  portion 
of  the  mainland  north  of  Manhattan  Island,  sep- 
arated from  it  by  Harlem  River  and  Spuyten 
Duyvil  Creek.  It  is  bounded  north  by  the  city 
of  Yonkers,  east  by  the  Bronx  and  the  East 
River,  south  by  the  bay,  and  west  by  the  Hud- 
son River.    Its  extreme  length  north  from  the 


Battery  is  sixteen  miles ;  its  greatest  width  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Bronx  west  to  the  Hudson 
is  four  and  a  half  miles.  Its  area  is  forty-one 
and  a  half  square  miles,  or  twenty-six  thousand 
acres. 

Manhattan  Island,  upon  which  the  city  is 
mainly  built,  is  about  thirteen  and  a  half  miles 
in  length  on  one  side  and  eight  on  the  other,  is 
one  mile  and  three  fifths  broad  on  an  average, 
and  is  bounded  at  its  northern  extremity  by  the 
Harlem  River,  which,  with  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek, 
connects  the  Hudson  River  and  East  River.  It 
is  surrounded  by  water  navigable  for  the  most 
part  by  the  largest  vessels,  and  its  harbor  is  one 
of  the  safest,  largest,  and  most  beautiful  in  the 
world. 


w 


6 


NEW   YORK  ILM'STRATKD. 


Less  than  three  centuries  have  elapsed  since 
Henry  Hudson,  the  Dutch  navigator,  passed 
through  the  Narrows  and  disernharked  from  his 
little  schooner  on  the  present  site  of  the  Battery. 

Traders  followed  Hudson,  and  in  1614  the 
future  metropolis  of  the  New  World  consisted  of 
a  small  fort  on  the  site  of  Bowling  Green,  and 
four  houses.  It,  was  then  called  "  Nieu  Amster- 
dam,'1 and  the  domain  acquired  was  named  the 
New  Netherlands. 

When  it  finally  came  into  possession  of  the 
English  in  1074,  and  the  name  was  changed  to 
New  York,  the  settlement  expanded  and  grew 
with  great  rapidity.    The  spirit  of  the  staid  and 


conservative  Dutch  hurgher  gave  way  to  that  of 
the  pushing  and  energetic  Anglo-Saxon,  a  race 
distinguished  in  history  for  it>  meOCM  in  coloni- 
zation, and  the  union  of  progress  and  stability 
which  it  stamps  on  its  institutions,  both  political 
and  social. 

In  1699  the  population  had  increased  to  about 
6,000.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  number  had  reached  60,000,  and  the  city 
extended  about  two  miles  north  from  the  1  lat- 
tery;  in  1830  it  was  202,000;  in  1850,  516,000; 
in  1860,805,000;  in  1870,942,000;  and  in  1880, 
according  t<»  census  reports  recently  published, 
a  trifle  over  1,250,000.    Until  the  latter  part  of 


New  York  from  the  Hudson. 


1873  it  ended  at  the  Harlem  River,  but  in  the  {  from  the  Battery,  and  is  crossed  by  two  ship- 
November  elections  of  that  year  the  towns  of  channels  from  twenty-one  to  thirty-two  feet 
West  Farms,  Morrisania,  and  Kings  Bridge,  hith-  deep  at  ebb-tide,  and  from  twenty-seven  to 
erto  a  part  of  Westchester  County,  were  annexed  thirty-nine  feet  at  the  flood,  thus  admitting 
to  the  advancing  metropolis.  ships  of  the  greatest  draught.    The  Narrows  is 

Perhaps  no  harbor  in  the  world  is  more  pict-  the  name  of  the  strait  by  which  the  inner  bay 
uresque,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bay  of  Na-  !  communicates  with  the  outer  or  maritime  bay, 
pies,  than  that  of  New  York.  From  some  ele-  and  is  formed  by  the  approach  of  the  shores  of 
vated  point  on  Staten  Island  the  observer  may  Long  Island  and  Staten  Island  within  a  mile  of 
gaze  on  a  vista  of  natural  beauty,  heightened  by  !  each  other.  This  strait  may  be  likened  to  a 
suggestions  of  human  interest  and  activity,  which  j  gateway  from  the  ocean,  while  standing  like  huge 
alike  charms  the  eye  and  stirs  the  imagination.  !  sentinels  to  guard  the  watery  pass  are  Forts 
The  outer  bar  is  at  Sandy  Hook,  eighteen  miles  ;  Wadsworth   (formerly   called  Richmond)  and 


THE  SITUATION. 


7 


Tompkins  on  the  verge  of  the  Sta- 
ten  Island  shore,  and  Fort  Hamil- 
ton on  the  Long  Island  shore. 

From  the  parapet  of  Fort  Wads- 
worth  the  beauty  of  the  panorama 
unfolds  itself  in  a  picture  of  sur- 
passing charm.  In  the  far  distance 
gleam  the  innumerable  spires  of  the 
city,  dwarfed  into  a  multitude  of 
glittering  points,  and  the  bright 
waters  of  the  bay  toss  a  multitude 
of  vessels  of  all  descriptions,  from 
tiny  tugs  and  sail-boats  to  huge 
three-masters  and  ocean-steamships 
arriving  and  departing.  In  one  di- 
rection the  eye  takes  in  the  green 
sweep  of  Long  Island,  built  down 
to  the  very  water's  edge  with  trim- 
ly-kept villas;  in  another,  a  haze 
vaguely  reveals  the  cities  of  Jersey 
City  and  Hoboken,  lying  across  the 
Hudson  from  New  York.  On  a 
pleasant  day  the  brilliancy  of  the 
American  atmosphere  makes  this 
vision  of  shining  waters,  white  sails, 
distant  spires,  and  green  bluffs, 
highly  fascinating. 

As  the  inward-bound  traveler 
sails  fairly  within  the  bay,  the  pict- 
ure becomes  more  and  more  strik- 
ing. He  is  now  within  the  heart  of 
a  fleet  of  stately  ships  and  steamers, 
plowing  a  surface  that  has  been 
cut  by  all  the  keels  of  the  civilized 
world.  In  the  foreground  there  are 
patches  of  green  that  in  the  sum- 
mer sun  sparkle  like  great  emeralds 
in  a  silver  setting — Bedloe's,  Ellis's, 
and  Governor's  Islands,  whereon 
are  defensive  fortifications,  Bedloe's 
Island  being  the  proposed  site  of 
the  colossal  statue  of  Liberty,  the 
gift  of  the  French  people,  now  be- 
ing sculptured  by  Bartholdy.  The 
traveler  looks  on  a  map  every  item 
of  which  is  eloquent  with  busy  life. 

In  front  looms  the  great  me- 
tropolis, with  its  miles  of  roofs  and 
broken  outlines  of  spires,  towers, 
and  domes,  now  sharply  cut  to  the 
perception,  and  telling  of  religion, 
thought,  art,  trade,  and  industry, 
developed  under  their  busiest  con- 
ditions. On  either  side,  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  reach,  the  water-line 
is  fringed  with  a  dense  forest  of 


8 


N  K W   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


masts,  from  which  fly  the  vari-colored  Hags  that 
re[>resent  the  commerce  of  the  globe,  and  sug- 
gest such  a  wonderful  story  of  international 
relationship,  the  brotherhood  of  man.  On  the 
left  we  see  the  cities  tributary  to  New  York 
which  nestle  on  the  New  Jersey  shore;  on  the 
right,  Brooklyn,  the  "  City  of  Churches,"  the 
large  dormitory  of  New  York's  surplus  popu-  | 
latum.  Spanning  the  East  Kiver,  as  that  strait 
is  called  which  connects  Long  Island  Sound  with  I 
the  bay  of  New  York,  in  one  bold  leap  from 
shore  to  shore,  the  colossal  structure  of  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge,  nearly  sixteen  hundred  feet  | 


long,  and  the  largest  structure  of  its  kind  in  the 
world,  greets  the  eye.  The  water  i-  black  with 
ferry-boats  and  small  steamboats,  and  the  intense 
vitality  and  movement  of  the  scene  can  hardly 
be  described  in  adequate  words. 

The  situation  of  New  York  for  commercial 
purposes  is  not  surpassed.  Lying  between  the 
North — or,  more  properly  speaking,  Hudson — 
and  the  East  Rivers,  it  htt  two  rorj  extended 
and  convenient  water-fronts,  making  a  tote] 
length  of  dock-line  not  equaled  by  that  of  any 
city  of  it-  size  in  the  world.  The  water-fronts 
of  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  and  Hoboken  belong 


View  of  New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights. 


too,  in  every  essential  sense,  to  New  York,  and 
represent  its  shipping  interests.  The  Hudson 
River,  which  flows  on  the  west  side  of  the  city, 
bears  an  enormous  aggregate  of  freight  and  pas- 
senger-travel, and  offers  to  the  stranger  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  journeys  in  the  world,  not 
excepting  even  the  traditional  attractions  of  the 
river  Rhine.  Within  eyeshot  indeed  of  the  city, 
the  lofty  Palisades  rise  boldly  picturesque,  and 
wooded  to  their  very  tops,  while  glimpses  of  hand- 
some villas  and  towns  can  be  caught  in  the  distance. 


On  the  east  side  of  the  city  the  Sound  pours 
its  waters  through  a  narrow  gateway,  and  serves 
a  valuable  commercial  use  in  giving  easy  water- 
carriage  between  the  metropolis  and  the  New 
England  coast.  Until  within  a  recent  period  the 
East  River  passage  was  made  somewhat  danger- 
ous by  the  submarine  rocks  and  reefs  of  Hell 
Gate,  as  a  portion  of  the  strait  is  called;  but 
these  hidden  obstacles  to  free  navigation  have 
now  been  so  far  destroyed  as  to  make  the  pas- 
sage perfectly  safe  and  easy. 


STREET  SCENES. 


9 


In  the  East  River  lie  three  striking  islands — 
BlackwelTs,  Randall's,  and  Ward's — which  give 
great  variety  to  the  scene,  and  are  occupied  by 
punitive  and  charitable  institutions,  while  be- 
yond these  the  shores  of  Long  Island  and  New 
York  slope  away  to  a  greater  distance  from  each 
other,  showing  a  succession  of  charming  country- 
seats  and  beautiful  wooded  reaches  as  far  as  the 


eye  can  extend,  which  seems  merely  an  exten- 
sion of  the  city,  gradually  dissolving  into  green 
and  cultivated  fields  and  pleasure-seats. 

Such  is  the  situation  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
the  third  great  capital  of  the  world,  and  destined 
ultimately,  perhaps,  to  be  its  first — a  city  unrivaled 
in  situation,  and  in  all  those  facilities  and  advan- 
tages which  make  a  great  center  of  civilization. 


STEEET  SCENES. 


THE  stranger  visiting  New  York  is  at  once 
impressed  by  the  intense  activity  and  bus- 
tle alike  visible  and  audible  in  all  the  conditions 
of  its  street-life.  The  crush  of  carriages,  drays, 
trucks,  and  other  vehicles,  private  and  public, 
roaring  and  rattling  over  the  stone-paved  streets ; 
the  crowds  of  swiftly-moving  men  walking  as  if 
not  to  lose  a  second  of  time,  their  faces  preoc- 
cupied and  eager;  the  sidewalks  encumbered, 
without  regard  to  the  convenience  of  pedestrians. 


with  boxes  and  bales  of  goods — in  a  word,  the 
whole  aspect  of  New  York  in  its  business  portions 
is  a  true  key  to  the  character  of  its  population, 
as  the  most  energetic  and  restless  of  people. 

The  Battery,  which  looks  out  on  the  noble 
bay,  is  comparatively  a  serene  and  restful  oasis 
in  the  fierce  turmoil  of  city  life,  but  one  hardly 
crosses  its  boundaries  without  feeling  the  fever- 
ish heart-beat  of  the  metropolis.  Walking  up 
Broadway  only  a  few  squares,  we  quickly  find 


Wall  Street,  with  Treasury  Building  at  the  right,  and  Trinity  Church  at  the  head  of  the  Street. 


LO 


NEW   YORK  ILLl'STKATEI). 


Drexel  Building,  corner  of  Broad  and  Wall  Streets,  and  Stock  Exchange. 


ourselves  in  that  network  of  thorough  tares  which 
lies  around  "Wall  Street,  a  financial  center,  only 
second  to  Lombard  Street,  London,  in  the  variety 
and  weight  of  its  international  interests. 

At  the  head  of  Wall  Street,  on  Broadway, 
Trinity  Church  uplifts  its  graceful  spire  as  if  a 
perpetual  reminder  of  more  solemn  things ;  but 
the  busy  money-getters,  who  swarm  like  flies 
under  the  shadow  of  its  venerable  walls,  find 
no  time  or  taste  to  linger  over  such  reflections. 
The  congeries  of  streets  running  parallel  with 
Wall  Street  for  two  or  three  squares,  and  crossing 
it,  are  lined  with  massive  and  splendid  struct- 
ures, in  which  the  principal  banking  and  railway 
business  of  the  continent  is  transacted.  AY  all 
Street  proper  is  about  half  a  mile  long,  extend- 
ing from  Broadway  to  the  East  River,  and  in  it 
are  the  Stock  Exchange,  the  Sub-Treasury,  and 
the  Custom-House.  The  street  derives  its  name 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  old  Dutch  days  the  city 
wall  ran  along  this  limit,  the  land  to  the  north 
being  common  pasturage.  In  the  building  which 
stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  Sub-Treasury, 


the  first  Congress  «»t'  the  United  States  after  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  assembled,  and  un- 

!  der  its  portico  George  Washington  was  inau- 
gurated first  President.  The  fine  structure  which 
now  lifts  its  front  of  marble  on  the  site  is  two 
hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  eighty  feet  wide, 
and  eighty  feet  high.  The  main  entrance  is  in 
Wall  Street,  and  is  made  by  an  imposing  flight 

j  of  eighteen  broad  marble  steps. 

At  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Wall  Streets  we 
find  the  Drexel  Building,  occupied  by  Drexel, 
Morgan  &  Co.,  the  bankers,  and  the  Leather 
Manufacturers'  National  Bank.  It  is  six  sto- 
ries high,  built  of  white  marble  in  the  Renais- 
sance style.    Within  the  walls  it  is  two  hundred 

j  and  two  by  seventy-five  feet.    Its  erection  cost 

■  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  tall  marble 
building  seen  on  the  right  of  the  structure  is 
the  Stock  Exchange,  which  is  in  Broad  Street, 
near  Wall,  with  two  other  entrances  on  Wall 
and  New  Streets.  The  offices  of  the  brokers 
who  live,  move,  and  have  their  being  in  this 

;  atmosphere  of  speculation,  and  manipulate  by 


STREET 

far  the  greater  portion  of  the  stocks,  bonds,  and 
money  of  the  country,  occupy  nearly  every 
building  for  several  squares  around  this  financial 
center.  The  throng  is  great  and  continuous,  and 
on  a  great  field  day  in  the  stock-market  the  ex- 
citement almost  reaches  delirium,  presenting  to 
the  unsuspicious  stranger  almost  the  aspect  of  an 
out-door  bedlam. 

Bank-messengers  with  actual  bags  of  gold 
and  packages  of  bonds  easily  convertible  into 
gold;  oflice-boys  with  saucy  manners  and  no 
less  saucy  faces ;  shrewd  detectives  with  quiet, 
unobtrusive  ways,  altogether  unsuspicious;  tele- 
graph-boys, in  neat  uniforms,  carrying  yellow 
envelopes,  that  contain  words  penned  only  a  few 
minutes  before  in  London,  Paris,  or  San  Fran- 
cisco ;  railway  magnates  more  important  in 
swaying  the  solid  destinies  of  the  world  than 
many  kings;  spruce  clerks  and  laborious  porters 


SCENES.  11 

i  — all  these  and  other  elements  are  included  in 
the  great  tide  of  life. 

Amid  all  the  turmoil  the  chimes  of  Old  Trin- 
ity burst  into  the  strong  melody  of  a  hymn,  and 
ring  out  the  promises  of  the  Eternal  Rock  in 
I  tones  that  the  uproar  of  traffic  can  not  drown. 
'  The  grand  old  church  in  this  confusion  of  com- 
merce, embodying  in  its  Gothic  architecture 
centuries  of  suffering  and  victory,  pathetically 
appeals  to  the  veneration  of  the  passer-by,  but 
those  absorbed  in  the  worship  of  Mammon  scarce- 
ly cast  a  glance  at  the  historic  sanctuary. 

Let  us  step  for  a  moment  from  the  life  of  the 
streets  into  the  human  din  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change. The  interior  is  occupied  by  a  spacious 
and  lofty  hall,  having  a  gallery  across  one  end 
for  visitors.  When  business  is  at  its  height,  the 
scene  is  a  strange  one.  The  visitor  looks  down 
on  a  tangled  mass  of  human  beings,  shrieking 


Nassau  Street  north  from  Wall  Street. 


L2 


NEW   VOKK  lLU'STIlATK!). 


and  waring  their  arms  aloft  like  madmen.  No 
order  or  purpose  would  seem  to  reign  in  this 
confusion,  but  underneath  and  behind  all  this 
apparent  chaos  run  the  most  intelligent  plans 
and  purposes,  and  a  system  which  is  like  a  piece 
of  clock-work.  The  stranger  visiting  New  York 
finds  no  more  interesting  spectacle  than  the  in- 
terior of  the  Stock  Exchange  during  a  time  of 
very  active  speculation. 


Looking  northward  from  the  Treasury  we 
have  a  view  of  Nassau  Street — a  wonderfully 
busy  thoroughfare,  crowded  near  its  lower  por- 
tion with  several  very  stately  bank-buildings,  the 
Bank  of  Comim-ree,  the  Continental  Bank,  and 
the  Fourth  National  umong  them,  with  several 
handsome  structures  oeeupied  by  a  number  of 
the  great  private  banking-houses,  the  well-know  n 
Brown  Brothers  being  among  them.     Ofl  the 


Pine  Street. 


right,  two  squares  distant,  is  the  time-honored 
church  until  recently  occupied  as  a  post-office, 
with  its  moldy  and  time-stained  walls,  telling 
with  grave  fidelity  of  an  ancient  and  varied  his-  I 
tory.   In  early  times  it  was  known  as  the  Middle 
Dutch  Church,  and  during  the  Revolution  was  ! 
used  as  a  riding-school  for  the  British  caval-  j 
ry,  and  a  military  prison  wherein  hundreds  of 
American  captives  were  huddled  and  died.  Its 
uses  as  a  post-office  terminated  in  September  of  i 


1875,  and  it  is  now  divided  into  various  retail 
stores. 

A  walk  down  Wall  Street  will  well  repay  the 
visitor,  for  he  will  see  not  a  few  of  the  hand- 
somest banking  institutions  in  America,  and  a 
display  of  noble  architecture  such  as  is  not  pre- 
sented in  the  same  compass  elsewhere  on  this 
continent.  Chief  among  these  is  the  handsome 
structure  known  as  the  Bank  of  New  York ;  and 
the  once  famous   Merchants'  Exchange,  now 


STREET  SCENES. 


13 


the  Custom-House,  the  latter  being  a 
model  of  solidity  and  graceful  pro- 
portions. A  little  farther  down 
Wall,  we  cross  Pearl  Street,  the  lo- 
cality of  cotton-brokers,  the  Cotton 
Exchange,  and  wholesale  houses  in 
various  merchandise.  At  the  foot 
of  Wall  Street  is  one  of  the  ferries 
which  connect  New  York  with  Brook- 
lyn. 

Proceeding  one  square  northward, 
we  find  ourselves  in  Pine  Street,  a 
finely-built  thoroughfare  on  which 
there  are  many  noble  and  massive 
structures  occupied  by  banks  and  other 
corporate  companies,  but  rather  som- 
ber from  its  narrowness  and  the  lofty 
buildings  which  keep  it  in  shadow. 
At  the  head  of  the  street  stands  the 
Martyrs'  Monument  in  Trinity  church- 
yard. 

Nassau  Street,  also  quite  narrow, 
is  for  the  most  part  handsomely 
built,  and  a  street  of  much  impor- 
tance, as,  apart  from  a  great  variety 
of  business  transacted  there,  it  is  one 
of  the  principal  radii  of  Wall  Street. 
Its  northern  terminus  is  Printing- 
House  Square,  opposite  City  Hall 
Park.  Portions  of  Nassau  Street  are 
peculiarly  notable  for  its  second-hand 
book  -  shops  and  stalls,  and  buyers 
from  all  portions  of  the  country  gath- 
er at  these  antiquarian  resorts  to  pick 
up  old  editions  not  easily  obtainable 
elsewhere.  Our  illustration  gives  a 
view  of  the  upper  part  of  the  street. 
The  massive  structure  to  the  right 
is  the  Morse  Building,  at  the  corner 
of  Beekman  Street,  a  great  colony  of 
many  offices,  looming  up  to  a  vast 
height.  Beyond  may  be  seen  the 
tower  of  the  Tribune  Building,  facing 
Printing-House  Square. 

Few  of  the  down-town  streets 
offer  more  interest  and  variety  to  the 
eye  of  the  stranger  than  Fulton  Street, 
which  extends  from  river  to  river, 
having  at  its  termini  two  of  the  most 
important  markets  in  the  city,  Wash- 
ington Market  on  the  North  River, 
and  Fulton  Market  at  the  East  River 
terminus.  It  is  the  principal  approach 
to  Fulton  Ferry,  which  is  the  most 
largely  patronized  of  the  New  York  ferries,  and 
which  in  the  morning  from  seven  to  ten,  and  in 


Upper  part  of  Nassau  Street. 

the  evening  from  four  to  seven,  presents  a  most 
animated  scene  of  diversified  throngs  moving  to 


11 


NEW   YORK   I  LM'STR  ATEI  >. 


and  fro  from  Brooklyn.  At  the  busiest  times  of 
these  hours  the  bouts  are  so  packed  with  human 
beings  that  there  is  scarcely  standing-room  for 
another  passenger. 

The  street  itself  is  a  scene  of  much  animation 
and  movement.  It  is  lined  with  small  retail 
shops  for  the  most  part,  but  shops  of  the  better 
description,  in  the  part  nearer  the  ferry;  while 
adjacent  Broadway  it  contains  large  wholesale 
warehouses.  Probably  nowhere  in  New  York 
is  a  greater  variety  of  articles  offered  for  sale, 
from  pins  and  needles  to  heavy  iron-work,  from 
guns  and  fishing-tackle  to  the  costliest  jewelry, 
from  books  and  stationery  to  every  article  of 
wearing-apparel,  from  paintings  and  1>ric  <)-hr<tr 
to  old  junk-iron.  The  irregular  line  of  this 
thoroughfare  presents  a  constant  throng  of  pe- 
destrians, and,  as  it  is  the  main  route  from 
Brooklyn,  nowhere  off  Broadway  can  !><•  seen  a 
larger  number  of  well-dressed  men  and  women 
in  down-town  New  York. 

Fulton  Market  for  many  years  has  been  one 
of  the  celebrated  places  of  New  York  to  which 
most  strangers  are  desirous  of  paging  a  visit. 
The  buildings  themselves  are  now  very  old,  and 
have  long  been  felt  to  be  entirely  inadequate  to 
their  purpose,  but  all  attempts  to  have  them  re- 
moved and  new  buildings  erected  have  thus  far 
failed.  Fulton  Market  has  two  specialties — fish, 
which  are  sold  on  the  northern  or  Beekman 
Street  side  of  the  building;  and  oysters,  which 
are  served  in  all  styles  on  the  southern  and 
eastern  sides — Dorlon's  place  having  among  the 
oyster-shops  a  reputation  which  is  known  far 
and  wide. 

Two  squares  above  the  ferry,  Fulton  Street  is 
crossed  by  the  New  York  Elevated  Railway,  and 
a  station  exists  at  the  corner.  The  difficulties  of 
utilizing  narrow  streets  for  the  necessities  of  the 
elevated  roads  are  very  well  exemplified  in  this 
case.  It  was  found  necessary  to  transform  a  por- 
tion of  the  old  United  States  Hotel  (in  the  early 
part  of  this  century  one  of  the  most  aristocratic 
and  exclusive  places  of  its  kind  in  the  city)  into  a 
railway-station,  as  the  street  space  did  not  admit 
of  such  a  use.  The  omnibus  and  street  car  lines 
which  run  on  Fulton  Street,  the  throngs  of 
trucks  and  drays,  the  mass  of  pedestrians,  and 
the  pictorial  variety  of  the  shops,  combine  to 
make  the  ensemble  a  very  amusing  one. 

Northward  of  Fulton  Street  and  extending 
from  City  Hall  Park  to  the  East  River,  the  ex- 
plorer finds  himself  in  the  so-called  "  Swamp,1' 
which  is  the  center  of  the  hide  and  leather  trade 
of  New  York.  The  name  was  given  on  account 
of  the  low  situation,  which  caused  it  to  be  over- 


tlowed  at  very  high  tides.  The  streets  in  this  re- 
gion are  short  and  narrow,  and  the  air  i>  strong- 
ly impregnated  with  the  pungent  odor  of  salted 
hides  and  fresh  sole-leather,  mixed  with  the  more 
aromatic  smell  of  kid,  morocco,  and  calf-skin. 
This  business  portion  of  New  York  still  supplies 
most  of  the  country  with  the  articles  in  which  it 
deals,  though,  since  so  many  other  ports  of  entry 
have  been  established  throughout  the  country, 
the  amount  of  the  trade  has  somewhat  fallen  off. 
The  approaches  of  the  East  River  Bridge  skirt 
the  Swamp  on  the  north,  and  a  wide  thorough- 
fare is  replacing  Frankfort  Street,  which  runs 
parallel  with  these  approaches. 

The  solidity  and  massiveiiess  of  the  great 
stone  arches  which  span  the  streets  at  the 'ap- 
proach of  the  East  River  Bridge  give  perhaps  a 
more  vivid  realization  of  the  enterprise  than  the 
full  view  of  the  bridge  from  the  river,  for  here 
the  sense  of  proportion,  mingled  with  the  effects 
of  sky  and  water,  lessens  the  conception  of  big- 
ness in  detail.  A  full  description  of  the  bridge 
will  be  found  elsewhere. 

Returning  now  to  Broadway,  let  us  take  a 
stand  on  the  Post -Office  corner  at  the  junction 
of  Broadway  and  Park  Row  and  look  at  the  ani- 
mated scene,  than  which  nothing  in  the  street- 
life  of  New  York  is  more  striking.  From  morn- 
ing till  night  there  moves  by  an  ever-changing 
procession  of  vehicles  that  have  poured  into  the 
great  artery  from  a  thousand  tributaries,  and,  to 
cross  Broadway  at  times  at  this  spot,  one  must 
needs  be  a  sort  of  animated  billiard-ball,  with 
power  to  carom  from  wheel  to  wheel,  until  he 
can  safely  u pocket"  his  personal  corporosity  on 
the  opposite  walk.  The  crush  of  vehicles  here 
is  sometimes  so  great  as  to  delay  movement  for 
ten  minutes  or  more,  and  it  requires  the  great- 
est energy  on  the  part  of  the  police  to  disen- 
tangle the  dense,  chaotic  mass  and  set  it  in  prog- 
ress again.  For  those  who  are  not  obliged  to 
cross  the  choked-up  thoroughfare,  the  scene  is 
full  of  a  brief  amusement — hack-drivers,  truck- 
men, omnibus-drivers,  swearing  vehemently  at 
each  other  or  interchanging  all  kinds  of  "  chaff" ; 
passengers  indignantly  railing  at  the  delay,  and 
police-officers  yelling  and  waving  their  clubs  in 
their  attempts  to  get  the  machinery  of  travel 
again  running  smoothly.  If  at  such  a  time  a 
fire-engine  comes  rattling  up  the  street  post- 
haste for  the  scene  of  a  fire,  and  attempts  to  en- 
force its  right  of  way,  the  confusion  becomes 
doubly  confounded,  and  the  scene  a  veritable 
pandemonium.  Ordinarily,  however,  such  tan- 
gles of  traffic  do  not  occur,  for  this  locality  is 
fully  supplied  with  policemen,  whose  main  busi- 


Fulton  Street,  looking  toward  Brooklyn  Ferry. 


L6 


NKW   rORK  [LLU8TRATED. 


ness  it  is  to  facilitate  the  passage  of  travel  ami 
prevent  such  a  blockade  as  we  have  described. 

The  outlook  down  Broadway  from  the  Post- 
Office  is  in  all  respects  picturesque  and  impres- 
sive, and  fills  the  mind  with  a  vivid  sense  of  the 
immense  activity  of  New  York  life.  In  the  dis- 
tance the  towers  of  Trinity  Church  and  the 
Equitable  Life  Insurance  Building  lift  themselves 
as  landmarks,  and  noble  buildings  thickly  stud 
the  squares  between.  The  New  York  Kvening 
Post  Building  and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Building  catch  the  eye  for  their  massiveness  and 
dignity;  and  directly  opposite  the  spectator,  but 
standing  diagonally  to  each  other,  the  A -lor 
House  and  Herald  Building  demand  the  attention 
as  representing  institutions  which  have  been 
household  word-  in  New  York  for  the  last  forty 
years  or  more.  lTp  and  down  this  vista  roars 
and  streams  an  ocean-tide  of  travel  and  traffic, 
and  the  eye  can  find  food  for  continual  interest 
in  its  changing  kaleidoscope.  Well-dressed  men 
and  women  are  brushed  in  the  throng  by  beggars 
and  laborers  grimed  with  the  dust  of  work ;  and 
grotesquely-attired  negroes,  with  huge  advertis-  j 
ing  placards  strapped  to  the  front  and  back,  pace 
up  and  down,  in  happy  ignorance  of  the  incon- 
venience  they  give  to  others  by  taking  up  a 
double  share  of  room.  Fruit  and  flower  stands 
offer  their  tempting  burdens  on  every  corner, 
and  retail  venders  of  all  kinds  peddle  their  goods, 
and  add  fresh  discord  to  the  din  by  their  shrill 
crying  of  their  wares.  About  six  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  however,  the  feverish  activity  of  this 
region  begins  to  abate,  and  it  is  not  long  before 
the  appearance  of  the  scene  becomes  lethargic 
and  quiet.  Down-town  New  York  has  now 
begun  to  go  to  sleep,  and  it  will  not  be  many 
hours  before  the  silence  and  emptiness  will  be 
alone  relieved  by  the  blaze  of  lights  in  the  news- 
paper establishments  of  Printing-House  Square 
and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Building,  by 
the  occasional  tramp  of  the  policeman  or  re- 
porter, or  the  rattling  of  a  casual  carriage  over 
the  stony  pave.  This  busy  part  of  the  city  will 
not  begin  to  waken  again  till  about  five  o'clock  j 
in  the  morning,  when  the  numerous  street-car 
lines  which  terminate  in  this  vicinity  commence 
to  run  their  cars,  bringing  down  porters,  me- 
chanics, and  laborers,  as  the  vanguard  of  the 
great  army  whose  thronging  battalions  will  make 
the  new  day  the  repetition  of  the  one  before. 

From  Chambers  Street,  the  northern  bound- 
ary of  the  City  Hall  Park,  to  Fourteenth  Street, 
Broadway  presents  to  the  eye  a  picture  of  active 
business-life  in  all  the  departments  of  trade,  ex- 
cept the  more  heavy  and  crude  articles  of  mer- 


chandise, such  as  iron,  hardware,  food-products, 
etc.,  which  have  their  headquarters  in  the  lower 
streets.  Every  square  is  massively  built  with  im- 
posing structures  devoted  to  dealers  in  the  textile 
fabrics  and  fancy-goods,  and  the  ligDfl  of  mann- 
facturers  of  clothing,  boots  and  shoe-,  etc..  are  seen 
on  every  side.  l)iiriiiLr  the  busy  seasons  of  the 
year  the  sidewalks  are  so  encumbered  with  boxes 
and  hale-  that  passage  is  difficult  for  the  pedes- 
trian, and  the  great  warehouses  are  ablaze  wit  h 
light-  m  arly  all  night  to  accommodate  the  press- 
ure of  business,  which  taxes  the  utmost  efforts 
of  the  merchant  and  his  clerks.  Nearly  all  the 
wholesale  trade  of  New  fork,  in  the  linet  Indi- 
cated above,  is  concentrated  on  this  section  of 
Broadway  and  several  side  squares  either  way 
from  the  central  thoroughfare. 

At  Canal  Street,  which  was  once  the  bed  of 
a  rivulet,  the  view  up  and  down  Broadway  is  ex- 
ceedingly brilliant  and  picturesque.  As  far  as 
the  eye  can  reach  it  gathers  in  a  range  of  busi- 
ness palaces,  representing  every  variety  of  taste, 
style,  and  beauty,  while  between  them  and  on 
the  sidewalk  i-  an  ever-cban^in^  scene  in  w  hich 
light,  color,  and  motion,  combine  to  create  a 
charm  that  never  tires.  There  is  a  fascination 
even  in  the  throng  of  vehicles,  the  faces  in  the 
omnibuses  and  private  carriages,  the  gay  turn- 
outs and  handsome  equipages  ;  and  in  the  strange 
commingling  of  people  passing  to  and  fro,  repre- 
senting every  State  and  country,  every  style  of 
dress  from  that  of  the  Oriental  to  the  last  fashion 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  there  is  a  magnetic  attrac- 
tion that  compels  the  stranger  to  linger  and  en- 
joy the  kaleidoscopic  scene.  For  three  miles 
the  change  is  continual,  the  continuity  of  effect 
is  unbroken;  and  a  walk  up  or  down  Broadway 
is  one  of  the  pleasantest  reminiscences  of  a  visit 
to  the  metropolis.  Yonder  is  the  famous  and 
most  comfortable  St.  Nicholas  Hotel ;  a  little  far- 
ther up  the  immense  brown-stone  form  of  the 
Metropolitan  Hotel,  another  of  our  fashionable 
hostelries.  At  the  corner  of  Bond  Street  and 
Broadway  is  the  artistic  structure  erected  by 
Brooks  Brothers,  the  clothiers,  and  nearly  oppo- 
site is  the  Grand  Central  Hotel,  a  monster  edifice, 
with  a  marble  front  eight  stories  in  height  and 
surmounted  by  a  Mansard  roof.  Just  around  the 
corner,  in  Bond  Street,  is  the  spacious  establish- 
ment of  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  the  publishers.  It 
is,  indeed,  impossible  to  walk  many  yards  with- 
out noticing  one  of  the  palaces  with  which  the 
merchants  have  beautified  the  city.  These,  with 
the  bustling  cosmopolitan  throng,  make  the  thor- 
oughfare one  of  such  interest  as  not  to  be  sur- 
passed by  anything  in  London  or  Paris. 


The  Approach  to  the  East  River  Bridge. 


18 


NEW   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


It  is  a  curious  feature  of  the  Broadway  crowd, 
by-the-way,  that  its  phases  are  different  at  dif- 
ferent hours  of  the  day.  Early  in  the;  morning, 
for  instance,  you  will  see  the  working-people,  the 
sewing-girls,  and  younger  clerks,  pouring  into 
the  street  from  right,  and  left,  and  hurrying 
downward.  At  eight  or  nine  o'clock  the  pro- 
cession is  chiefly  composed  of  business-men — 
those  who  lill  the  counting-rooms  and  the  law- 
offices.  From  ten  to  three  the  ladies  appear  in 
full  force  on  shopping  expeditions,  and  then  the 
tide  begins  to  turn  upward.  At  four  o'clock  a 
hundred  thousand  are  promenading;  a  goodly 
proportion  being  peripatetic  fashion-plates,  con- 
trived by  the  cunning  of  the  dressmaker  and 
milliner.  At  six  the  poorer  classes  are  again 
homeward  bound;  and  then,  until  morning, 
Broadwaj  is  abandoned  to  the  pleasure-seeker, 
midnight  prowler,  and  poor  wretches  who  have 
shunned  the  light  of  day. 

The  buildings  occupied  by  the  dry -goods  and 
other  firms  on  this  part  of  Broadway  are,  as  a 
rule,  built  of  iron,  modeled  and  painted  to  imi- 
tate white  marble,  though  in  a  few  cases  the  iron 
is  designed  to  show  for  what  it  honestly  is  in  its 
painting  and  gilding.  Above  Bleecker  Street,  on 
this  great  thoroughfare,  the  retail  dealers  in  silks, 
satins,  gloves,  hosiery,  articles  of  use,  and  orna- 
ments of  all  descriptions,  begin  to  multiply. 
Principal  among  the  celebrated  shops  of  New 
York  is  the  retail  dry-goods  house  of  A.  T.  Stew- 
art &  Co.,  probably  the  largest  establishment  of 
the  kind  in  the  world,  occupying  a  spacious  mar- 
ble building  bounded  by  Ninth  and  Tenth  Streets 
and  Fourth  Avenue.  It  instantly  indicates  itself 
to  the  stranger  by  the  line  of  private  carriages 
ranged  in  its  front,  and  the  cohort  of  coachmen 
and  footmen  waiting  the  advent  of  their  mis- 
tresses. It  is  only  by  entering  "  Stewart's that 
one  can  obtain  an  adequate  idea  of  the  immen- 
sity of  the  institution.  If  the  eight  floors  of  this 
building  could  be  spread  out  on  a  level,  they 
would  occupy  a  space  of  fifteen  acres.  In  this 
little  world  of  trade  there  is  nothing  pertaining 
to  the  needs  of  a  lady,  from  hairpins  to  the  car- 
pets with  which  she  furnishes  her  boudoir,  which 
may  not  be  found  in  its  proper  department. 

Among  the  minor  parks  of  New  York,  Union 
Square  is  one  of  the  most  pretty  and  noted.  Its 
extent  is  about  three  and  a  half  acres,  and  it  lies 
between  Broadway  and  Fourth  Avenue,  and  Four- 
teenth and  Seventeenth  Streets.  It  has  a  pleas- 
ant fountain  in  its  center  and  a  number  of  fine 
shade-trees,  and  during  the  summer  season  its 
benches  are  thronged  with  loungers,  who  while 
away  the  hours  of  the  day  in  the  shadow  of  the 


tree!  watching  the  mimio  rainbow  of  the  fountain. 
In  the  early  morning  and  kite  afternoon,  this, 
like  all  the  other  parks,  is  the  resort  of  children 
and  nurse-maids  wheeling  baby -carriages,  and 
juvenile  life  lends  to  its  aspect  one  of  its  pretti- 
est features. 

Statues  of  Washington  and  Lincoln  face  the 
park  on  the  southeast  and  southwest  corners  re- 
spectively, and  another,  of  Lafayette,  is  almost 
hidden  in  the  foliage,  opposite  Broadway.  On 
Decoration-day,  May  30th,  these  monumental 
bronzes  are  richly  wreathed  with  flowers.  The 
equestrian  statue  of  Washington  was  modeled 
by  Browne,  and  is  fourteen  and  a  halt  feet  in 
height,  the  entire  monument,  including  the  ped- 
estal, being  twenty-nine  feet.  This  work  has  been 
generally  and  justly  admired.  The  bronze  statue 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  also  by  Browne,  stands  on 
a  granite  pedestal  at  the  opposite  angle  of  the 
square,  and  is  an  admirable  likeness  of  the  great 
original  in  form  and  feature.  Perhaps  the  stiff 
citizen's  garb  in  which  the  martyr-President  is 
represented,  though  objectionable  on  account  of 
rigidity  of  outline,  better  represents  the  awkward 
but  stalwart  personality  than  would  a  more  ar- 
tistic costume.  The  statue  of  Lafayette,  also  of 
bronze,  was  molded  by  the  celebrated  French 
sculptor  Bartholdi,  the  projector  of  the  Liberty 
statue  to  be  erected  on  Bedloe's  Island,  and  was 
the  gift  of  the  French  Republic. 

A  paved  plaza  borders  the  park  on  the  north 
|  along  Seventeenth  Street,  where,  on  special  occa- 
sions, a  row  of  ornamental  colored  <:as  lamps  are 
lighted.  A  cottage  within  the  park  facing  the 
plaza  has  a  balcony  for  the  accommodation  of  re- 
viewing officers  of  military  parades,  and  it  is  also 
used  as  a  platform  for  public  speakers  on  the  oc- 
casion of  large  mass-meetings.  The  park  is  a 
pleasant  little  oasis  of  greenery  in  the  midst  of  a 
busy  part  of  the  city,  and  the  rustling  of  the 
leaves,  the  twittering  of  the  English  sparrows — 
which  are  not  only  the  faithful  guardians  of  the 
trees  in  protecting  them  from  the  worms,  but  a 
never-ending  source  of  amusement — and  the  tin- 
kling of  the  fountain-spray  as  it  falls  back  into  the 
basin,  make  a  soothing  impression  on  the  senses. 

Twenty  years  ago,  Union  Square  was  a  fashion- 
able neighborhood,  wherein  resided  many  of  the 
oldest  and  wealthiest  families  of  New  York;  but 
it  has  yielded  to  the  march  of  trade,  and  great 
changes  have  been  made  in  its  aspect.  The  fine  old 
brown-stone  mansions  havebeen  mostly  torndown 
to  make  way  for  splendid  business  structures,  and 
long  before  another  decade  has  passed  it  will  show 
an  imposing  array  of  architectural  fronts.  The 
surroundings  of  Union  Square  Park  are  of  much 


2o  .     NEW  STOBB  [LLU8TRATED. 

interest,  and  in   many  ways  make  the  locality  treasures  of  this  famous  place,  and  nowhere  is  he 

attractive  to  the  visitor.     North  of  it  is  the  Kv-  likely  to  see  the  fashionable  side  of  New  York 

erett  House,  a  famous  old  hostelry,  which  lias  life  more  fully  represented,  except,  perhaps,  in 

entertained  a  large  number  of  the  most  distin-  the  Academy  of  Musie  on  a  gala-night.  Such 

guished  people  who  have  passed  through  the  are  the  principal  attractions  of  Union  Square 

city  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.    Opposite  Park  and  its  environment,  though  it  is  probable 

the  Kverett  is  the  Clarendon  Hotel,  and  several  that,  within  a  few  years,  owing  to  inevitable 

squares  below,  athwart  the  eastern  side  of  the  change-,  some  of  the  surroundings  winch  now 

park,  the  Union  Square  Hotel,  both  favorite  give  the  locality  >o  much  of  its  charm  will  have 

houses  of  entertainment.     Near  the  corner  of  ceased  to  exist, 

Broadway  and  Fourteenth  Street  is  the  Union  Proceeding  up  the  line  of  Broadway,  which 
Square  Theatre,  which,  within  the  last  seven  somewhat  deflects  at  Fourteenth  Street,  the 
years,  has  risen  to  share  with  Wallack's  Theatre  sight-eeer  passes  by  many  fine  buildings,  and 
the  honor  of  presenting  to  the  public  the  most  mingles  in  a  varied  stream  of  pedestrian  life  full 
fashionable  and  artistic  performances  in  the  of  interest  and  movement.  Brilliant  shops  de- 
country,  being  devoted  principally  to  the  repro-  voted  to  jewelry,  hric-n-hrar,  and  ornamental 
duction  of  Parisian  successes,  while  Wallack's  goods,  ladies'  apparel,  and  fancy  articles  of  every 
Theatre  is  most  widely  known  as  a  theatre  of  description,  attract  the  eye,  and  the  groups  of 
comedy.  The  latter  theatre,  which  for  many  well-dressed  and  handsome  women  standing  at 
years  has  had  its  home  on  the  corner  of  Broad-  every  show-window  make  the  street-scene  even 
way  and  Thirteenth  Street,  will  be  moved  the  more  fascinating  than  the  glowing  colors  shining 
forthcoming  season  (1  SSI )  to  the  corner  of  Broad-  behind  the  plate-glass.  At  Twentv-third  Street, 
way  and  Thirty-first  Street.  where  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue  intersec*,  we 
One  square  eastward  of  Union  Square  is  the  reach  Madison  Square  Park,  the  most  delightful 
Academy  of  Music,  in  which  have  appeared  the  of  the  pleasances  which  c.\i>t  in  the  heart  of  the 
most  celebrated  contemporary  singers.  On  a  city.  This  park  includes  about  six  acres,  bounded 
gala-night  of  the  opera  the  adjacent  streets  even  by  Broadway,  Madison  Avenue,  Twenty-third 
to  the  park  itself  are  packed  with  carriages  wait-  and  Twenty-sixth  Streets,  and  it  may  be  said  to 
ing  the  close  of  the  performance.  Union  Square  !  be  the  very  heart  of  the  world  of  amusement, 
in  the  winter,  on  account  of  its  importance  as  gayety,  and  fashion. 

an  amusement  center,  presents  its  most  animated  The  park  abounds  with  fine  shade-trees,  has 

aspect  from  seven  to  eleven  in  the  evening,  after  a  large  fountain,  and  its  trim  lawns  are  inter- 

which  it  is  nearly  deserted,  except  by  policemen  spersed  wTith  splendid  beds  of  flowers  and  vari- 

and  the  late  night-roisterers,  who  consider  their  colored  plants  shaped  in  geometric  designs.  The 

day  as  just  begun.     That  part  of  Fourteenth  numerous  settees  that  border  the  walks  are  filled 

Street  and  Fourth  Avenue  directly  opposite  the  j  with  a  better  class  than  one  observes  in  the  other 

statue  of  Washington  is  known  in  theatrical  minor  city  parks,  the  atmosphere  of  wealth  and 

slang  as  the  "  slave-market, "  from  the  large  splendor  which  walls  it  in  seeming  unfavorable 

number  of  actors  always  to  be  found  lounging  to  the  gathering  together  of  the  tramps  and 

there  in  the  summer,  on  the  alert  for  au  engage-  shiftless  idlers  who  may  be  seen  airing  their 

ment.  tattered  garments  so  often  in  the  other  parks. 

On  the  west  side  of  Union  Square,  corner  of  Many  of  the  residents  of  the  vicinity  and  the 
Fifteenth  Street,  is  the  splendid  iron  edifice  of  guests  of  the  hotels  may  be  observed  reading 
Tiffany  &  Co.,  the  well-known  jewelers  and  sil-  their  papers  here  of  a  bright  spring  or  summer 
versmiths,  whose  establishment  is  a  grand  mu-  morning,  and  the  air  is  musical  with  the  prattle 
seum  of  the  most  exquisite  articles  in  jewels,  of  rosy  and  beautiful  children,  accompanied  by 
gold  and  silver  work,  bronzes,  statuary,  bric-d-  \  their  white-capped  bonnes.  The  trees  are  varied 
brae,  and  all  the  costly  forms  of  ornament  with  in  character,  large,  and  well-grown,  and  the  care 
which  wealth  delights  to  surround  itself.  Splen-  |  with  which  this  park  is  kept  makes  it  an  exquisite 
did  equipages  may  be  observed  in  front  of  this  and  most  refreshing  bit  of  greenery  and  color, 
palace  of  art,  which  employs  the  finest  skill  of  On  the  south  side  of  the  park,  adjacent  to  the 
the  Old  and  New  World  to  delight  its  patrons  Broadway  corner,  a  bronze  statue  of  William  H. 
from  morning  till  night,  and  a  continuous  stream  ■  Seward  is  seated  on  its  pedestal,  and  on  the 
of  richly-dressed  women  pours  in  and  out.  No-  ■  upper  western  border  the  arm  and  torch-bearing 
where  in  New  York  can  the  stranger  pass  an  |  hand  of  bronze,  which  w  ill  bear  the  lofty  signal- 
hour  more  agreeably  than  in  viewing  the  art-  flame  of  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  to  be  erected  on 


22 


NKW  YORK  [LLU8TRATED 


Madison  Square  and  Twenty-third  Street. 


Bedloc's  Island,  is  mounted  for  temporary  dis- 
play. The  bronze  statue  of  Admiral  Farragut, 
which  was  erected  in  May,  1881,  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  park,  is  the  work  of  the 
sculptor  St.  Gaudens,  and  represents  the  naval 
hero  in  uniform  standing  on  a  pyramidal  pedes- 
tal. The  attitude  is  one  of  stern  sobriety  and 
repose,  and,  in  spite  of  the  awkward  lines  of  the 
straight-cut  garments,  the  artist  has  succeeded 
in  giving  the  figure  a  feeling  of  strength  and  dig- 
nity very  noticeable.  The  decoration  of  the 
pedestal  is  elaborate  and  peculiar,  giving  vari- 
ous suggestions  of  the  sea  and  its  characteristic 
life,  with  much  originality  of  treatment.  On  the 
Madison  Square  side  of  the  park,  again,  a  large 
and  beautiful  drinking-fountain  has  been  recent- 
ly placed,  and  the  various  stages  and  carriages 
which  stop  there  for  the  horses  to  drink  give  a 
quaint  and  novel  aspect  to  the  scene. 

The  surroundings  of  the  park  are  of  the  most 
striking  character.  In  its  immediate  vicinity 
are  eight  or  ten  of  the  finest  of  the  New  York 
hotels,  half  a  dozen  clubs,  the  best  restaurants, 
and  several  fine  theatres,  not  to  speak  of  the  pa- 
latial residences  on  every  hand.  The  march  of 
trade  has  indeed  invaded  this  region  in  great 
measure,  aside  from  Broadway,  which  has  always 
retained  its  commercial  stamp;  but  the  shops 
are  so  gay  and  elegant  that  they  rather  add  to 


than  lessen  the  attractiveness  of  the  riixtmbh. 
At  the  junction  of  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue, 
opposite  the  park,  stands  a  fine  monument  to 
the  memory  of  Major-General  Worth,  a  gallant 
soldier  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  the  Seminole  and 
Mexican  campaigns. 

Aside  from  the  splendid  houses  of  entertain- 
ment, such  as  the  Fifth  Avenue,  Hoffman,  Albe- 
marle, Gilsey,  Brunswick,  etc.,  which  are  clus- 
tered in  its  near  vicinity,  and  offer  the  stranger 
an  embarras  de  richesses  for  his  choice,  we  have 
Delmonico's  Restaurant  on  the  corner  of  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Twenty  -  sixth  Street,  and  the 
Brunswick  Restaurant  at  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  same  streets.  Both  these  famous  places 
contribute. largely  to  the  life  and  activity  of  Mad- 
ison Square,  as  they  are  frequented  by  the  wealth, 
beauty,  and  fashion  of  New  York  to  an  extent 
not  shared  by  any  of  their  rivals.  Delmonico's 
name  has  been  a  household  word  in  the  gastro- 
nomic world  for  many  a  long  year,  but  during 
the  last  decade  the  Brunswick  Restaurant  has 
begun  to  compete  with  its  widespread  celebrity. 
The  throngs  of  richly-dressed  women  and  men 
that  pour  in  and  out  of  the  doors  of  these  palaces 
of  the  cuisine  from  early  afternoon  till  late  even- 
ing speak  well  for  the  culture  of  the  gastronomic 
taste  in  America.  The  decorations  of  the  Bruns- 
!  wick  Restaurant  are  so  unique  and  artistic  as  to 


STREET  SCENES. 


23 


be  alone  worth  a  visit.  Dining  here  becomes  an 
aesthetic  as  well  as  a  physical  pleasure,  as  the  eye 
delights  itself  in  the  gold,  black,  and  brown  orna- 
mentations of  wall  and  ceiling,  the  pure  crystal 
candelabra,  the  perennial  foliage,  the  constant 
fountain,  and  the  stained-glass  windows. 

The  promenade  in  Madison  Square  on  fine 
afternoons  is  fall  of  animation,  and  all  types  of 
feminine  beauty  are  aggregated  in  a  fluttering 
stream  of  feathers  and  petticoats.  Though  all 
the  women  we  see  are  not  pretty,  an  entrancing 
proportion  are,  and  a  still  larger  proportion  are 
attired  with  a  discriminating  liberality  of  taste 
which  employs  vivid  color  without  a  suggestion 
of  gaudiness.  Another  characteristic  is  the  vi- 
vacity of  manner,  and  the  abundant  use  of  flow- 
ers, both  natural  and  artificial,  as  a  decoration. 
In  the  time  of  violets  and  roses,  the  air  of  this 
overheated  city  street  is  as  fragrant  as  a  garden. 
Nearly  every  woman  wears  a  bouquet  in  her 
breast,  and  a  perfect  legion  of  sidewalk  peddlers 
add  to  the  sweetness  with  small  bunches  held 
out  for  sale  in  baskets  and  on  trays. 

At  no  time  during  the  year  are  Fifth  Avenue, 
Madison  Square,  Madison  Avenue,  and  the  other 
streets  which  concentrate  in  this  beautiful  portion 
of  New  York  more  attractive  than  in  the  month  ! 
of  May.  The  wealthy  and  fashionable  classes  do 
not  begin  to  leave  the  city  before  the  middle  of 
June,  so  that  in  the  month  of  blossoms  we  see 
the  beauty  and  gayety  of  the  haut  ton  disport- 
ing themselves  under  the  pleasantest  conditions.  | 


Splendid  equipages;  handsomely-dressed  women, 
j  buoyant  with  the  atmosphere  of  genial  May; 

fine-looking  men,  worthy  successors  of  those 
j  whom  Thackeray  a  quarter  of  a  century  since 
pronounced  the  most  noble  and  distinguished- 
i  looking  men  in  the  world ;  throngs  of  beautiful 
i  children  under  the  care  of  their  nurses— present 
j  a  bright  and  charming  picture  to  the  eye.  Fifth- 
|  Avenuedom  is  then  at  its  best,  for  the  summer 
|  birds  have  not  taken  their  flight,  and  find  an 
|  irresistible  temptation  to  live  out-of-doors  as 
'  much  as  possible.   These  gala-days  of  New  York 
beauty  and  fashion  last  about  a  month,  when  the 
growing  heat  drives  out  of  the  city  all  who  are 
not  fastened  by  necessity.    Mr.  Wordsworth 
Thompson's  painting  of  this  scene,  which  we 
have  engraved,  was  painted  before  the  Farragut 
statue  was  erected,  which  stands  In  the  Park 
nearly  opposite  the  center  of  the  picture. 

Not  far  from  Madison  Square  and  the  begin- 
ning of  that  great  region  where  lives  the  "  upper- 
tendom  "  of  New  York,  is  the  art  headquarters 
not  only  of  the  city,  but  the  country.  This  asso- 
ciation is  a  logical  one,  for  more  and  more  art 
tends  to  identify  itself  with  fashion  and  fashion- 
able ways.  The  days  when  the  artist  was  a  gay 
and  rollicking  Bohemian,  disobedient  to  the  con- 
ventions of  society,  have  now  pretty  much  dis- 
appeared ;  and  the  painter  and  sculptor  study  the 
purely  commercial  and  social  sides  of  their  profes- 
sion as  shrewdly  as  does  the  shopkeeper,  provid- 
ing for  the  tastes,  wise  or  otherwise,  of  the  wealthy 


Broadway,  West  Side  of  Madison  Square. 


24  M^V   YORK  J 

classes  who  buy  pictures,  witli  the  cautious  pre- 
vision of  the  dealer  in  carpets  or  dress-patterns. 
The  National  Academy  of  Design  is  the  fore- 
most art  institution  of  the  country,  situated  at 
the  northwest  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue  and 
Twenty-third  Street,  and  an  exhibition  of  new 
paintings  is  held  in  the  spring  of  each  year.  The 
building,  in  an  architectural  sense,  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  in  the  city,  full  of  notable  archi- 
tectural features.  The  plan  of  the  exterior  was 
copied  from  a  famous  palace  in  Venice,  and  the 
gray  and  white  marble  and  blue-stone  used  in  Lta 
construction  are  beautifully  blended.  The  front, 
on  Twenty-third  Street,  is  eighty  feet  long  and 
extends  on  Fourth  Avenue  to  a  depth  of  ninety- 
eight  feet  nine  inches.  The  double  Might  of  steps 
leading  to  the  main  entrance  lias  been  skillfully 
made  a  part  of  the  general  design,  and,  with  its 
beautiful  carvings  and  drinking-fountain  beneath, 
is  unique.  Within,  the  vestibule  has  a  floor  of 
variegated  marbles  leading  up  to  the  grand  stair- 
way, which  is  massive  and  imposing.  The  third 
story  is  devoted  entirely  to  the  exhibition  gal- 
leries, which  are  lighted  from  the  roof.  On  the 
first  and  second  stories  are  the  offices,  lecture- 
rooms,  reception-room,  and  art  schools.  These 
schools  are  free,  and  are  open  from  the  first 
Monday  in  October  in  each  year  until  the  first 
of  June  the  following  year,  continuously.  All 
students  first  enter  the  antique  school.  Appli- 
cants for  admission  must  file  an  application  stat- 
ing name,  address,  place  of  nativity,  what  previ- 
ous training,  if  any,  a  reference  as  to  personal 
character,  etc.,  upon  a  blank  form  obtained  on 
application  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary  of 
the  Academy.  The  applicant  must  submit  to  the 
Council  a  shaded  drawing  from  a  cast  of  some 
part  of  the  human  figure,  which,  if  approved, 
will  secure  admission  to  the  antique  class,  from 
which  pupils  are  advanced  to  the  life  class  upon 
executing  in  the  school  an  approved  drawing  of 
a  full-length  statue.  Oil-  and  water-colors  may 
be  used  by  permission  of  the  professor  in  charge. 
Punctual  attendance  is  required,  under  a  penalty 
of  forfeiture  of  membership ;  but  members  may 
attend  one  or  all  of  the  morning,  afternoon,  and 
night  sessions,  as  they  elect  upon  entering.  The 
schools  are  open  to  both  sexes,  and  the  principles 
of  art  are  taught  through  the  study  of  antique 
sculpture  and  the  living  model,  both  nude  and 
draped,  by  means  of  lectures  on  anatomy,  per- 
spective, and  other  subjects,  through  portrait, 
sketch,  and  composition  classes,  and  in  such 
other  ways  as  are  from  time  to  time  provided. 
The  first  three  days  of  the  spring  exhibitions  are 
known  as  artists'-day,  varnishing-day,  and  pri- 


[LLU8TRATED. 

vate-view.  Admission  on  the  last  of  these  day-, 
is  eagerly  sought,  and  cards  of  invitation  an- 
ient to  the  leading  people  of  New  York  society. 
At  such  times  the  Academy  of  Design  is  thronged 
with  the  beauty  and  wealth  of  New  York  led 
ety,  and  the  richly-attired  gathering  makes  al- 
most as  brilliant  a  show  as  the  pictures  on  the 
walls,  which  nominally  the  people  come  to  see. 
A  younger  institution,  the  Society  of  American 
Artists,  is  progressing  with  such  lusty  vigor  that, 
t  hough  as  yet  it  has  no  permanent  home,  it  prom- 
ises by-and-by  to  equal  if  not  surpass  the  paint 
trunk  of  which  it  is  an  offshoot. 

Directly  Opposite  the  Academy  of  Design,  at 
the  southwest  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue  ami 
Twenty-third  Street,  is  the  building  of  the  Young 
Men*-  ( 'hri>t  ian  Association,  a  highly-ornamental 
structure  to  this  part  of  the  city.  It  is  among 
the  finest  specimens  of  the  Keiiaissance  style  of 

architecture  in  the  metropolis.   The  roof  is  of 

the  steej)  Mansard  pattern,  presenting  towers  of 
equal  height  at  each  corner  of  the  building,  and 
a  large  tower  (windowed)  over  the  entrance  on 
Twenty-third  Street.  The  material  is  New  Jer- 
sey brown-stone  and  the  yellowish  marble  from 
Ohio,  in  almost  equal  parts,  the  latter  composing 
the  decorative  portion.  The  building  contains 
twenty-five  apartments,  including  gymnasium, 
library,  lecture-rooms,  offices,  etc. 

Let  us  now  retrace  our  steps  and  scan  the  be- 
ginnings of  a  street  which  has  a  reputation  as 
wide  as  the  civilized  world,  and  has  given  name 
to  a  great  social  force  in  American  life — Fifth 
Avenue.  Leaving  Broadway  and  proceeding 
through  Waverley  Place,  three  short  squares  bring 
us  to  Washington  Square.  The  park,  which  is  a 
beautiful  one,  shaded  with  very  large,  full  trees, 
has  two  fountains,  and  is  a  highly  picturesque  and 
attractive  resort,  from  its  surroundings,  though 
the  current  of  fashion  has  long  since  passed  north- 
ward. On  the  east  side  the  New  York  University 
Building  lifts  its  castellated  bastions  and  turrets 
like  some  old  mediaeval  donjon,  and  lends  a  pecul- 
iar aspect  of  old-fashioned  quaintness  to  the  scene. 
During  the  genial  summer  days  this  spot  of  shade 
and  verdure  is  much  patronized  by  those  waifs  and 
strays  of  humanity  who  are  either  too  lazy  to 
work  or  are  unable  to  obtain  it,  and  the  knigfrts 
of  rags  and  tatters  may  be  observed  here  smok- 
ing their  pipes  philosophically  during  the  day- 
time, or  reposing  on  the  benches  at  night,  in 
larger  numbers  than  anywhere  else  in  the  city. 
The  curious  observer  of  human  nature  can  find 
in  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  human  wreck,  who 
float  in  here  as  in  some  quiet  cove,  a  wonderful 
field  for  pursuing  his  favorite  study,  as  all  grades 


NEW   YORK  ILLFSTRATKI). 


of  poverty  and  shiftlessncss  arc  well  represented. 
The  park  is  also  a  favorite  play-ground  for  chil- 
dren, and  their  bright  faces  and  active  little  fig- 
ures lend  a  cheery  look  to  what  might  otherwise 
be  the  too  grim  forlornncss  of  the  tramp  and 
idler.  The  north  side  of  Washington  Square  (l 
peculiarly  impressive  and  interesting,  from  the  ; 
style  of  the  residences,  many  of  which  are  still 
inhabited  by  rich  old  families  too  much  in  love 
with  past  associations,  and  the  beauty  of  the  lo- 
cation, to  yield  to  the  behests  of  fashion.  The 
houses  are  built  of  red  brick  with  white-marble 
trimmings  and  marble  stoops.  The  peculiarly 
bright  and  refreshing  aspect  of  such  houses  in 
the  wilderness  of  brown-stone  can  hardly  be  de-  | 
scribed  too  enthusiastically ;  and,  as  they  are  for  I 
the  most  part  kept  with  the  most  perfect  clean-  | 


liness  and  taste,  the  pedestrian  lingers  here  with 
a  sense  of  warm  appreciation  of  what  may  bt 
called  an  old-fashioned  novelty. 

Fifth  Avenue,  perhaps  the  most  famous 
street  in  America  ib  the  rcpre>mtative  locality 
in  which  for  more  than  thirty  years  fashionable 
New  York  has  expended  its  love  of  lavish  dis- 
play, begins  at  the  center  of  Washington  Square. 
The  wealth  and  social  pride  of  New  York  have 

had  their  strongholds  at  Bowling  Green,  East 
Broadway,  Bond  and  Bleecker  Streets,  and 
Washington  Square,  respectively.  Now  Fifth 
Avenue  is  the  successor,  and  where  the  next 
grand  concentration  of  the  aristocracy  of  money 
will  be  it  is  not  easy  to  forecast. 

Fifth  Avenue  is  a  broad,  straight  avenue  run- 
ning to  Fifty-ninth  Street,  thence  along  the  east 


Twenty-third  Street   from  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue. 
I  Young  Men/6  Christian  Association  Building  on  tbe  left;  National  Academy  of  Design  on  the  right.) 


side  of  Central  Park,  and  to  Mount  Morris  at 
One  Hundred  and  Twentieth  Street,  which 
breaks  its  continuity.  It  begins  again  at  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  Street,  and  runs  to 
the  Harlem  River.  Probably  there  is  not  an- 
other street  in  the  world  wherein  are  more  ele- 
gant and  imposing  private  residences,  furnished 
with  princely  magnificence,  or  more  exquisite 
collections  of  those  trifles  of  art  and  taste  which 
bespeak  a  high  order  of  cultivation.  From  the 
southern  terminus  to  Central  Park,  a  distance 
of  two  and  a  half  miles,  it  presents  an  un- 
broken array  of  splendid  dwellings  and  noble 
churches,  with  exception  of  here  and  there  in  its 
lower  portion  where  business  establishments 
which  deal  for  example  in  musical  instruments, 
pictures,  jewelry,  and  articles  of  a  costly  and  or- 


namental character,  have  encroached  on  its  fash- 
ionable private  character.  Many  of  the  edifices 
in  this  long  stretch  of  palatial  domiciles  possess 
marked  beauty  of  architectural  design,  and  all 
of  them  are  built  in  massive  and  splendid  blocks 
for  the  most  part  of  brown-stone.  In  spite  of 
the  uniformity  of  appearance,  which  comes  of  a 
general  use  of  the  same  building  material  and  a 
similar  style  of  structure,  sufficient  variety  and 
character  are  given  the  street  by  the  numerous 
splendid  church  edifices  and  the  few  hotels  and 
private  dwellings  of  a  differing  style  of  archi- 
tecture to  relieve  the  somber  and  massive  dig- 
nity which  would  otherwise  stamp  the  aspect  of 
the  street. 

It  would  be  impracticable  to  describe  in  de- 
tail the  many  objects  of  interest  which  are  to 


Fifth  Avenue  Scenes. 


28 


NKW   YORK  IMJSTRATKI). 


Fifth  Avenue,  at  corner  of  Twenty-first  Street. 


be  seen  on  this  avenue;  to  penetrate  its  huge 
club-houses,  its  large  and  expensive  libraries, 
choice  picture-galleries,  private  billiard-rooms, 
and  exquisitely  furnished  parlors,  and  a  drive 
over  its  Belgian  pavement,  and  a  glance  at  the 
exterior  features  of  the  street,  must  suffice. 

The  real  glory  of  the  avenue  is  to  be  seen 
best  on  Sunday  after  the  morning  service.  Fash- 
ion in  all  its  strangest  conglomerations  and  beau- 
ty in  its  most  striking  attire  then  exhibit  them- 
selves on  the  promenade.  The  street  is  also  a 
favorite  highway  for  the  owners  of  equipages  en 
route  to  and  from  the  Park,  and  every  pleasant 
afternoon  witnesses  a  display  of  showy  animals 
and  vehicles  almost  unequaled,  certainly  not  sur- 
passed, in  Europe  or  America.  Next  to  a  fash- 
ionable race-course  it  is  the  place  above  all  oth- 
ers in  New  York  for  the  exhibition  of  handsome 
horse-flesh. 

Nearly  every  square  in  Fifth  Avenue  presents 
something  of  interest  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger. 
At  the  corner  of  Eighth  Street  is  the  Brevoort 
House,  an  aristocratic  family  hotel,  which  is 
more  largely  patronized  by  wealthy  foreigners 
than  any  other  hostelry  in  the  city.  At  the  cor- 
ner of  Fifteenth  Street  is  the  Manhattan  Club, 
famous  as  the  political  headquarters  of  what  is 
known  in  the  expressive  slang  of  the  day  as  the 


'  "swallow-tail  democracy, "  and  immediately  op- 
i  posite  are  to  be  noticed  the  massive  walls  of  the 
Haight  apartment-house,  for  a  long  time,  before 
the  French-flat  system  had  got  such  a  stronghold 
in  New  York,  the  most  splendid  establishment 
of  the  kind  in  the  city. 

At  the  corner  of  Twenty-first  Street  are  the 
Union  and  Lotos  Clubs,  the  former  embracing 
a  greater  aggregate  of  wealth  among  its  mem- 
bers than  any  club  in  the  city,  and  the  latter 
the  well-known  resort  of  the  art  and  literary 
professions.  At  the  corner  of  Eighteenth  Street 
are  the  splendid  Music  Hall  and  Warerooms  of 
Chickering  &  Co.,  the  piano-forte  manufactur- 
ers, and  a  few  blocks  below  are  the  piano  show- 
rooms of  Weber  and  Knabe.  Knoedler's  art- 
store  and  picture-gallery,  a  branch  of  Goupil's 
of  Paris,  attracts  the  eye  on  the  corner  of  Twen- 
ty-second Street.  Here  the  visitor  to  New  York 
always  finds  a  delightful  place  for  whiling  away 
half  an  hour,  and  it  is  a  convenient  stopping- 
place  on  the  way  up  Fifth  Avenue. 

Passing  through  Madison  Square,  which  has 
been  described  previously,  we  continue  our  way 
up  the  magnificent  avenue,  finding  continual  food 
to  attract  the  eye  and  excite  the  interest.  The 
window-fronts  we  shall  find  during  the  summer 
months  decorated  with  tiled  flower-boxes,  laden 


STREET  SCENES. 


29 


with  a  perfect  glory  of  blooms  in  call  the  colors 
of  the  rainbow.  This  is  a  charming  characteris- 
tic of  the  leading  residence  streets  in  the  aristo- 
cratic portion  of  the  city,  and  speaks  volumes 
for  the  taste  and  love  of  beauty  inherent  even 
among  those  who  may  have  made  their  money 
so  suddenly  as  to  be  without  the  social  and 
aesthetic  culture  which  makes  wealth  the  most 
enjoyable.  Fifth  Avenue  is  exceptionally  no- 
ticeable for  this  lavish  display  of  flowers  on  the 
window-ledges,  that  seem  to  be  literally  blossom- 
ing out  of  the  brown-stone  a  little  distance  away. 

When  we  reach  the  corner  of  Thirty-fourth 
Street,  the  eye  is  instantly  arrested  by  the  state- 
ly marble  palace  built  by  the  late  A.  T.  Stewart, 
until  recently  justly  regarded  as  the  most  costly 
and  luxurious  private  residence  on  the  continent. 
The  reception  and  drawing  rooms,  the  dining, 
breakfast,  and  sleeping  rooms,  are  very  beautiful 
in  decoration  and  furnishing.  We  are  now  in  a 
region  of  an  almost  unbroken  line  of  architect- 
ural beauty;  handsome  churches  and  mansions 
abound,  and  the  wonderful  changes  that  are 
taking  place  in  the  upper  portion  of  New  York 
are  written  on  every  side.  Superb  mansions  are 
continually  being  pulled  down  to  make  way  for 
structures  still  more  palatial,  and  the  rage  for 
surpassing  each  other  in  the  splendor  of  their 
domiciles  seems  to  have  taken  possession  of  our 
merchant,  banker,  and  railroad  princes. 


The  magnificent  mansions  built  by  members 
of  the  Vanderbilt  family,  of  which  we  give  an 
engraving  on  the  next  page,  on  the  square  be- 
tween Fifty-first  and  Fifty-second  Streets,  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  and  on  the  northwestern  corner 
of  Fifty-second  Street,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
finest  houses  in  New  York.  Those  occupying 
the  first-named  square  are  of  brown-stone,  elab- 
orately carved  and  ornamented.  They  are  con- 
nected together  by  a  gallery  into  which  the 
main  entrance  leads.  The  house  on  the  upper 
Fifty-second  Street  corner  is  built  of  light-gray 
stone,  and  is  most  artistic  and  unique  in  its 
architectural  front.  Another  member  of  the 
Vanderbilt  family  is  building  a  grand  house  of 
red  brick,  with  heavy  trimmings  of  gray  stone, 
at  the  upper  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty- 
seventh  Street.  These  noble  structures  rank 
among  the  finest  private  residences  in  the 
world. 

At  no  time  is  there  more  animation  in  Fifth 
Avenue  than  on  the  day  when  the  Coaching 
Club  makes  its  annual  parade,  which  occurs  on 
the  last  Saturday  in  May.  Every  door  and  win- 
dow on  the  most  brilliant  of  our  streets  is  pic- 
torial with  the  faces  of  handsome  women,  and 
crowds  of  the  jeunesse  doree  of  both  sexes  as- 
semble at  every  place  of  vantage  to  wait  the 
enlivening  show  of  the  four-in-hands  as  they 
dash  by.    The  Coaching  Club  was  instituted  in 


Thirty-fourth  Street,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue. 


30 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Now  York  in  187(5,  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
oouragjng  four-in-hand  driving.  There  are  now 
twenty -six  members,  representing  twenty -one 
coaches.     The  meet  is  always  in  front  of  the 


Hotel  Brunswick,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Twenty-seventh  Street,  and  the  route  through 
Fifth  Avenue  and  the  Park,  thence  down  the 
avenue  again  to  Washington  Square,  and  back 
again  to  the  starting-place.     The  scene  is  of 


1 1"'  most  enlivening  kind  as  the  coaches  daub 
offttl  speed,  the  guards  sounding  the  M  Tally- 
ho!"  on  their  long  horns.  This  brisk  music  is 
kept  up  from  time  to  time  during  the  trip,  and 
the    long-drawn,  mellow 

notes  appear  to  add  fresh 
lire  to  the  horses  as  well 
as  animation  to  the  gay 
chatter  of  the  charming 
and  stylishly-dressed  beau- 
ties who  sit  on  the  boxes 
and  fill  the  top  seats  in 
company  with  the  gentle 
men  drivers.  To  be  in- 
vited to  ride  on  such  an 
occasion  is  a  brevet  of 
fashionable  eminence,  dear 
to  the  heart  of  every  wom- 
an who  sighs  to  shine  in 
the  glittering  van  of  social 
life. 

Four-in-hand  coaching 
has  thriven  marvelously 
since  its  first  institution  in 
New  York,  but  it  is  not  a 
thing  indigenous  to  the  soil, 
and  probably  will  never 
quite  arouse  the  genuine 
enthusiasm  which  it  evokes 
in  the  land  where  it  is  "  air 
tive  to  the  manner  born." 
Jt  has  its  root  in  the  in- 
stincts of  that  large  class 
of  wealthy  young  men  who 
have  bravely  set  themselves 
to  remodeling  the  crudities 
of  American  society  by  the 
British  standard,  and  be- 
lieve that  "  nothing  good 
can  come  out  of  Nazareth." 
It  is  even  said  by  certain 
satirists  that  some  of  these 
Anglo  -  maniacs  cultivate 
the  misplacement  of  the 
#s,  but  this  is  probably  a 
libel.  However  the  coach- 
ing fever  may  have  been  an 
exotic,  it  certainly  develops 
some  picturesque  features 
of  life  which  are  not  with- 
out their  pleasant  side. 
While  the  Club  as  such  only  parades  once  a  year, 
individual  members  show  their  drags,  and  strive 
to  witch  the  feminine  world  by  the  way  they 
handle  their  ribbons,  nearly  every  fine  day  in  the 
Park  during  the  spring  and  early  summer.  Some 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


of  them  arc  always  to  be  seen  at  the  Jerome 
Park  races,  and  daring  the  summer  monthi  at 
Newport — that  most  fashionable  and  exclusive 
of  watering-places. 

The  origin  of  the  Coaching  Club  appears  to 
have  been  in  the  enterprise  of  Colonel  Delan- 
cey  Kane,  who  startled  the  New  York  world 
in  1875  by  running  a  coach  daily  between  the 
Brunswick  Hotel  and  Castle  Inn,  New  Roehelle, 
in  imitation  of  the  young  English  aristocrats,  who 
had  taken  in  similar  manner  to  becoming  public 
Jehus.  This  noble  example  quickly  inspired 
other  rich  owners  and  lovers  of  horse-flesh,  and 
several  regular  excursions  were  announced,  but 


only  to  be  withdrawn  afterward,  the  original 
instigator  of  this  character  of  enterprise  having 
been  the  only  one  to  carry  it  out  systematically, 
though  a  regular  club  of  coaching  expert*  was 
formed.  It  is  understood  that  a  large  number 
of  the  gilded  youths  who  belong  to  the  London 
coaching  clubs  do  act  as  drivers  on  several  de- 
lightful excursion  routes  out  of  London,  and  an- 
thus  the  means  of  bestowing  genuine  pleasure  on 
that  portion  of  the  public  who  love  the  breezy 
downs,  the  stately  hedgerows,  and  the  swiftly 
changing  forms  of  summer  pomp  and  beauty  to 
be  enjoyed  behind  four  splendid  roadsters;  but 
so  far  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Coaching  Club  of 


New7  York  seems  in  only  one  case  to  have  settled 
into  this  useful  form. 

As  we  approach  Central  Park  on  Fifth  Ave- 
nue the  stately  and  palatial  homes  of  our  rich 
men  do  not  show  in  the  least  any  declension 
from  the  dignity  of  the  street — many  of  them, 
indeed,  displaying  unique  and  striking  character- 
istics not  observable  farther  down  town.  The  I 
beautiful  architecture  of  the  porches,  which 
will  be  more  specially  referred  to  in  another 
place,  catches  the  eye  instantly,  and  indicates 
the  operation  of  a  certain  individuality  of  taste, 
which  does  not  rest  content  with  mere  splen- 
did commonplace,  but  struggles  to  express  that 


conception  of  a  home  which  makes  both  the 
exterior  and  interior  of  the  temple  wherein  is 
set  the  shrine  of  one's  household  gods  the  out- 
come of  adjustment  between  the  dwelling  and 
the  dwellers. 

The  fine  residence  square  at  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Fifty-sixth  Street,  built  of  Caen- stone,  though 
not  specially  noticeable  in  its  architectural  orna- 
ment, attracts  attention  from  the  happy  union 
of  lightness  with  the  idea  of  mass  and  dignity. 
The  low,  roomy  porches,  the  broad  windows, 
and  the  Mansard  roofs,  give  a  genial,  home-like 
aspect  to  these  edifices,  which  more  lavish  ex- 
penditure might  sometimes  fail  to  attain.  In 


34 


m:\v  york  illi'stkatki). 


this  portion  of  the  street  adjoining  the  park  one 
can  not  help  observing  the  charming  appearance 
of  the  sidewalks  on  a  bright,  sunshiny  day,  cre- 
ated by  the  great  number  of  children  going  to 
and  from  the  park,  from  boys  and  girls  rolling 
their  hoops  and  spinning  their  tops,  to  baby-car- 
riages laden  with  their  infant  freight  and  wheeled 
by  nurses. 

The  street  immediately  east  of  Fifth  Avenue, 
Madison  Avenue,  rivals  the  former  for  about 
two  miles  in  the  number  and  elegance  of  its 
fashionable  residences.     Beginning  at  Madison 


Square,  it >  home-,  its  churches,  and  its  ehtb- 
housc*  are  of  the  same  splendid  character  al- 
ready noticed,  until  we  approach  Central  Park. 
Here  it  still  retains  something  of  the  roughn. m 
of  a  new  thoroughfare.  I'robabh  in  the  course 
of  another  year  this  noble  avenue  will  be  com- 
plete, when  it  will  be  unsurpassed  for  the  impos- 
ing character  of  its  architecture. 

Strolling  eastward  from  Madison  Avenue,  u  . 
next  come  to  a  street  of  exceptional  charm  and 
attractiveness  in  Park  Avenue,  as  that  portion 
of  Fourth  Avenue  which  lies  between  Thirty- 


Elevated  Railway  in  Third  Avenue. 


fourth  Street  and  the  Grand  Central  Railway 
Station  is  called.  It  is  almost  in  the  center  of 
Murray  Hill,  the  ultra-fashionable  portion  of  the 
city,  and  yet  its  position  isolates  it  from  the 
bustle  and  the  noise  to  which  both  Fifth  and 
Madison  Avenues  are  subjected.  This  thor- 
oughfare is  built  over  the  tunnel  of  the  Fourth 
Avenue  Railway  line,  and  this  peculiarity  of  po- 
sition, united  with  the  great  width  of  the  street, 
makes  possible  the  highly  ornamental  and  effec- 
tive character  of  its  ensemble. 


At  regular  intervals  in  the  center  of  the  ave- 
nue are  neatly  railed  inclosures  of  green  sod, 
with  grated  apertures  through  which  light  and 
air  are  supplied  to  the  tunnel  beneath.  These 
miniature  parks  (whence  the  name  of  the  ave- 
nue) are  planted  with  shrubs  which  have  already 
attained  a  fine  growth,  and  in  some  cases  flow- 
ers ;  and  they  give  the  aspect  of  the  thorough- 
fare an  indescribably  peaceful  and  rustic  charm, 
which  exists  in  no  other  New  York  street  located 
in  the  heart  of  the  city.    Fine  roadways  run  on 


36 


NKW  TORE  ILLUSTRATED. 


either  Hide  of  the  center,  and  here  we  observe  a 
noble  display  of  carriages  on  a  pleasant  day. 
Park  Avenue  has  for  some  time  been  a  favorite 
location  with  our  wealthy  people,  and  only  its 
shortness  prevents  it  from  being  a  street  which 
would  more  than  rival  the  other  aristocratic  lo- 
calities of  the  city  in  its  repute  as  a  representa- 
tive home  of  wealth  and  social  prestige. 

Near  the  northwest  corner  of  Thirty-fourth 
Street  and  Park  Avenue  is  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  Covenant,  built  in  the  Lombardo- 
Gothic  style,  and  at  the  corner  of  Thirty-third 
Street  is  the  Park  Avenue  Hotel,  which  is  one 
of  the  finest  of  New  York  hostelries.  Without 
attempting  to  enumerate  in  detail  the  numerous 
fine  structures  on  this  avenue,  we  must  con- 
tent ourselves  with  calling  attention  to  the  gen- 
erally unique  aspect  of  its  appearance,  which 
challenges  admiration  as  something  apart  from 
all  other  thoroughfares  in  the  Empire  City. 

Nothing  contributes  more  to  give  characteris- 
tic quality  to  the  street-scenes  of  New  York,  on 
several  of  its  streets  and  avenues,  than  the  ele- 
vated railway  system,  which  is  found  in  no  other 
city  of  the  world.  Whether  it  has  improved  the 
appearance  of  the  portions  of  the  city  through 
which  it  passes  is  a  matter  of  individual  opinion  ; 
but  assuredly  the  chango  is  a  most  notable  one. 
At  the  outset  thero  was  bitter  opposition  on  the 
part  of  shopkeepers  and  householders,  but  this 
has  for  the  most  part  subsided;  and  it  is  now 
generally  acknowledged  that  business  in  Third 
and  Sixth  Avenues,  which  are  the  most  intimately 
affected  by  the  elevated  roads,  lias  been  improved 
by  what  first  threatened  to  be  a  detriment. 

Apart  from  all  other  considerations,  it  is  gen- 
erally conceded  that  the  vexed  problem  of  rapid 
transit  has  been  solved  in  a  practical  and  effi- 
cient manner.  The  long  and  narrow  conforma- 
tion of  the  city  renders  comparatively  few  lines 
necessary,  and  obviates  for  the  most  part  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  which  might  arise  from 
frequent  junctions  and  street-crossings.  The 
first  line  in  this  rapid-transit  system  to  be  con- 
structed was  the  old  Greenwich  Street  and  Ninth 
Avenue  road,  on  the  west  side,  the  motive-power 
of  which  was  originally  designed  to  be  by  sta- 
tionary engines,  but  these  soon  gave  way  to  loco- 
motives. This  line  was  vastly  improved  by  the 
construction  of  a  double  track  from  South  Ferry, 
at  the  extreme  southern  end  of  the  city,  to  Cen- 
tral Park.  The  same  corporation  has  also  built 
a  double-track  road  on  the  east  side,  from  the 
City  Hall  (just  opposite  which  is  to  be  the  en- 
trance of  the  stone  causeway  of  the  East  River 
Bridge)  to  Chatham  Square,  and  thence  through 


the  Bowery  and  Third  Avenue,  along  which  thor- 
oughfare it  extends  to  Harlem  and  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-ninth  Street.  The  st rue:  u re  filial 
according  to  the  character  of  the  street  in  which 

I  it  is  located.  Front  and  Pearl  being  narrow,  the 
roadway  is  bridged  from  curb  to  curb  by  trans- 
verso  lattice-girders;  the  Bowery  being  wide, 
the  tracks  are  carried  upon  separate  rows  of  pil- 
lars on  each  side  of  the  street;  while  on  Third 
Avenue  they  are  erected  upon  a  line  of  columns 
at  each  side  of  the  street-car  tracks,  and  connected 
at  the  top  by  light,  open,  elliptic  arch-girders.  A 

;  clear  idea  of  the  different  structures  and  the  roll- 
ing-stock may  be  obtained  from  our  illustrations. 

To  the  business-man,  living  far  up  town,  the 
elevated  roads  are  so  valuable  that  he  now  w  on- 
ders  how  he  could  have  dispensed  with  them  so 
long.  As  a  mode  of  access  to  theatres  and  other 
places  of  amusement  their  importance  grows 
with  immense  strides.  The  value  of  real  estate 
has  been  largely  enhanced  in  the  tip-town  dis- 
tricts, and  building  greatly  stimulated.    The  ef- 

j  fects  of  these  roads  have  only  begun  to  be  fully 
appreciated  by  the  public. 

The  Metropolitan  Elevated  Railway,  on  the 

|  west  side,  begins  at  the  rear  of  Trinity  Church 
and  runs  toCcntral  Park — the  route  being  through 
New  Church  Street,  Church  Street,  Murray  Street, 

:  College  Place,  West  Broadway,  South  Fifth  Ave- 
nue, Amity  Street,  and  Sixth  Avenue,  to  the 
park.  At  Fifty-third  Street  a  branch  debouches 
to  Ninth  Avenue,  whence  it  proceeds  to  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  Street,  crosses  to  Eighth 
Avenue,  and  thence  extends  to  the  Harlem  Riv- 
er (One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth  Street).  Until 
recently  this  was  the  terminus  of  the  road,  but  the 
completion  of  the  bridge  across  the  Harlem  River 
now  enables  the  trains  to  connect  with  the  New 
York  City  &  Northern  Railroad,  for  High  Bridge, 
Fordham,  Yonkers,  Tarrytown  and  other  points, 

I  to  Brewsters,  five  miles  distant.  The  equipment 
of  this  road  is  excellent.  The  cars  are  duplicates 
of  the  Pullman  palace-cars.  The  seats  have  spring 
cushions,  upholstered  with  brown  morocco  leath- 
er, and  are  placed  two-by-two  at  each  side  of 
the  aisle,  except  at  the  ends,  where  they  are 
ranged  longitudinally  around  the  car,  the  object 
of  this  arrangement  being  to  leave  enough  space 
near  the  doors  for  the  ingress  and  egress  of  pas- 
sengers. The  windows  are  wide  and  high,  and 
are  of  plate-glass  with  adjustable  up-blinds.  The 
exteriors  are  a  very  delicate  shade  of  green.  The 
stations,  designed  by  the  celebrated  landscape 
artist,  J.  F.  Cropsey,  are  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired. The  average  length  of  the  platforms  is 
one  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  the  average  width 


38 


\T.vv  fORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


eleven  feet,  and  the  average  height  tw 
feet.  The  passengers  reacli  them  by  tl 
short  flights  of  steps,  covered  by  pavil 
roofs,  and  lighted  by  suspended  gas-lam 
At  the  head  of  the  steps  there  is  a  bale 
from  which  the  passengers  enter  a  ticket- 
office  leading  to  the  platform,  and  at  each  side 
of  the  entrance  there  is  a  waiting-room — one 
for  ladies  and  the  other  for  gentlemen.  The 
waiting-rooms  are  furnished  with  black  walnut, 
and  finished  with  yellow  pine  touched  and 
stained  with  variegated  colors;  lighted  by  gas, 
heated  and  provided  with  separate  toilet  and 
retiring  rooms.  The  platform  is  covered  from 
end  to  end  by  a  pavilion  roof,  the  lines  of  which 
are  picturesquely  broken  by  wrought-iron  crest- 
ings  and  finials,  which  give  the  whole  structure 
a  graceful  and  uncommon  appearance. 

The  Second  Avenue  Elevated  line,  which  is 
a  branch  of  the  Metropolitan  Elevated  Railway 
Company,  extends  from  the  Battery  to  Harlem 
River,  and  it  is  ultimately  proposed  that  it  shall 
cross  the  river  on  a  bridge  to  be  built,  and  have 
its  terminus,  at  some  point  not  yet  fixed,  in  West- 
chester County.  The  cars  used  on  the  branches 
of  the  Metropolitan  Elevated  Railway  are  far 
more  comfortable  and  elegant  than  those  used 
on  the  Ninth  and  Third  Avenue  lines,  which 
constitute  the  New  York  Elevated.  Both  the 
roads,  including  the  four  lines,  have  within  the 
last  two  years  been  leased  to  a  corporation 


West  Street,  near  Canal  Street 

known  as  the  Manhattan  Company,  the  object 
having  been  to  harmonize  conflicting  interests 
and  secure  uniformity  of  management. 

The  most  striking  impression  made  on  the 
mind  by  the  Elevated  Railroads,  as  an  example 
of  skillful  and  audacious  engineering,  is  at  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  Street,  between  Eighth  and 
Ninth  Avenues.  Here  the  substructure  attains 
the  remarkable  height  of  sixty-three  feet,  and 
the  massive  iron  beams  and  girders,  owing  to 
their  great  elevation,  appear  too  frail  to  bear 
the  burden  imposed  on  them.  As  one  drives 
under  this  giant  curved  bridge,  and  sees  the 
trains  gliding  far  over  his  head  in  the  air,  the 
imagination  is  fascinated  with  the  thought  of  the 
daring  of  science  which  overcomes  the  greatest 
difficulties  by  the  precision  and  thoroughness 
with  which  it  adapts  its  means  to  its  ends. 

The  fare  on  all  the  roads  from  the  lower 
termini  to  the  Harlem  River  is  ten  cents,  except 
between  the  hours  of  4.30  and  7.30  in  the  even- 
ing, and  the  same  hours  relatively  in  the  morn- 
ing.  From  South  Ferry  to  Central  Park  the  run- 


STREET  SCENES. 


39 


ning  time  is  about  twenty-five  minutes.  "  What 
is  there  to  prevent  the  train  from  tumbling  into 
the  street?"  asks  a  timid  reader.  Within  each 
rail,  and  higher  than  it,  is  an  exceedingly  strong 
timber  firmly  bolted  to  the  cross-ties,  and  the 
plan  of  the  tracks  is  such  that,  in  case  of  any 
breakage  of  wheel  or  axle,  the  body  of  the  cars 
can  only  fall  a  few  inches  before  it  comes  in  con- 
tact with  this  guard,  which  also  holds  the  wheels 
against  the  track.    A  better  criterion  than  this 


|  of  the  safety  of  the  system  is  the  fact  that  there 
I  have  been  so  few  accidents,  and  nearly  all  of 
these  in  the  case  of  employees,  become  bold  and 
reckless  through  long  custom.  Without  any 
clamor,  straining,  or  ringing  of  bells,  the  train 
glides  out  of  the  station  along  the  track,  running 
between  stations  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty  miles 
an  hour,  and  making,  with  stoppages,  about 
twelve  miles  an  hour.  It  is  controlled  by  at- 
I  mospheric  breaks  and  electric  signals,  and  can 


40 


NKW   YORK  ILLl'STKATKI). 


be  brought  to  a  standstill  in  a  little  more  than 
its  own  length.  The  stoppages  are  made  with 
scarcely  any  jolting,  and  with  very  little  delay. 
The  platforms  at  the  rear  and  front  are  inclosed 
by  iron  railings  and  gates,  which  are  not  opened 
until  the  train  is  still,  and  are  closed  the  mo- 
ment it  moves  again.  Such  is  the  Rapid-Transit 
System  of  New  York,  which  probably  could  not 
be  surpassed  in  its  general  adaptation  to  the 
needs  of  the  city  and  people. 

ANo  student  of  New  York  street -life  can  af- 
ford to  overlook  some  of  the  busy  and  character- 


istic scenes  which  are  to  be  observed  in  those 
business  localities  adjacent  to  the  wharves  and 
docks,  where  the  shipping  interests  create  an 
activity  and  atmosphere  peculiar  to  themselves. 
The  streets,  always  the  dirtiest  and  most  un- 
sightly in  New  York,  perhaps  necessarily  so,  are 
choked  up  with  heavy  drays,  trucks,  baggage 
and  freight  wagons,  so  that  the  chaos  seems  al- 
most inextricable.  The  roughest  of  the  laboring 
classes  find  employment  in  these  regions,  and 
sulphurous  oaths  may  be  heard  at  every  turn,  em- 
phasized from  time  to  time  by  a  furious  fisticuff 


STREET  SCENES. 


41 


combat.    The  low  "dives"  and  drinking-shops 
that  infest  these  streets  contribute  largely  to  the  j 
confusion,  and  help  to  make  an  active  super- 
vision of  the  police  more  necessary  than  else-  | 
where.    The  importance  of  the  business  repre-  ; 
sented  in  the  bustle  and  movement  of  such  j 
thoroughfares  as  West  Street  on  the  North  River 
front,  and  South  Street  on  the  East  River  front, 
can  hardly  be  over-estimated.    Over  the  ferries  | 
which  cross  the  North  River  pours 
a  constant  tide  of  passengers 
and  freight.    Nearly  all  the 
great  railways  have  their     ,.-^gE^^=^A : 
freight- depots  either 
in     Jersey  City 
or  at  the  North 
River  wharves 
of   the    New  J 
York  side, 
and  the  im- 
mensity of 
traffic  is  elo- 
quently sug- 
gested in  the 
turmoil  and 
tangle  of  the 
express  and 
baggage  wag- 
ons, and  the 
drays  and 
trucks  con- 
stantly ar- 
riving and 
departing. 
AV  h  e  n  we 
cross  to  the 
East  River 
front,  we 
reach  the  lo- 
cality where 
the  world's 
comm  erce 
declares  itself 

in  a  forest  of  tall  masts.  Here  again  we  have 
confusion  worse  confounded  in  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  street-life,  but,  beneath  the  apparent 
chaos  and  disorder,  the  machinery  which  moves 
the  business  world  and  puts  forth  its  invisible 
connections  to  every  part  of  the  land  works 
with  the  unfailing  force  of  some  ponderous  en- 
gine. 

While  touching  those  sides  of  New  York  life 
which  have  a  picturesqueness  all  their  own,  we 
must  not  omit  to  call  attention  to  the  appearance  ! 
of  the  whole  congeries  of  streets  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  block  bounded  by  West,  Little  Twelfth,  | 


Tenement-Houses. 


Washington,  and  Gansevoort  Streets,  known  as 
the  Market-Wagon  Stand,  in  the  early  morn- 
ing, when  the  market- wagoners  fetch  in  their 
produce  from  the  country.  For  nearly  a  mile 
within  a  block  or  two  of  the  water-front  the 
thoroughfares  are  packed  close  with  the  wagons 
from  which  New  York  draw  s  its  supply  of  vege- 
tables. Farmers,  gardeners,  and  huckster-women, 
with  wholesome  tan  on  the  hands  and  faces, 
make  the  early  hours  busy  with 
their  traffic,  and  bring  to  the 
air  of  the  city  the  scent  of 
the  green  fields  and 
flowers  of  the  rural 
districts.  By  7 
.  m.,  however, 
these  country 
visitors  have 
all  departed, 
and  the  city 
again  re- 
sumes its 
furious  life 
of  toil  and 
trade. 

While  the 
sight-seer 
amuses  him- 
self with 
studying  the 
aspects  of  life 
and  business 
adjoining  the 
water-line  of 
New  York, 
he  may,  if 
he  will,  pen- 
etrate in  a 
short  walk  to 
the  heart  of 
the  tenement 
house  region, 
where  pover- 
ty and  wretchedness  present  their  most  distress- 
ing forms.  The  vilest  groggeries  are  sown  thick 
on  every  block,  and  reeling  men  and  women  illus- 
trate the  threadbare  moral  as  old  as  the  world, 
that  vice  and  misery  go  hand  in  hand.  A  glance 
at  the  region  of  rookeries,  however,  suffices,  and 
we  will  pass  to  pleasanter  scenes.  With  a  brief 
reflection.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  solve 
the  problem  of  model  tenement-houses  for  the 
poor,  but  in  a  very  imperfect  way.  Both  in  Lon- 
don and  Paris  systematic  efforts  have  been  made 
with  fair  success  in  this  direction.  New  York 
philanthropy  should  follow  this  noble  example. 


L2 


NEW  YORK  ILLUflTBATED. 
BUI  LI)  I  N(iS. 


City  Hall  and  Ne^ 


"VTEW  YORK,  as  behooves  the  greatest  and 
-L- ^  most  populous  city  of  the  New  World,  and 
one  of  the  richest  capitals  on  the  globe,  abounds, 
at  every  hand,  with  noble  buildings,  public  and 
private,  the  latter  of  which  compare  favorably 
with  those  of  any  of  the  centers  of  the  Old-World 
civilization.  It  goes  without  saying  that  we  can 
not  boast  of  those  time-worn  and  picturesque  old 
edifices  which  are  the  delight  of  the  artist,  and 
appeal  so  powerfully  to  the  historic  imagination. 
But,  aside  from  these  heritages  of  former  ages, 
which  add  so  much  to  the  fascination  of  Euro- 
pean capitals,  the  metropolis  of  America  is  in 
many  ways  notable  for  the  striking  character  of 
its  architecture. 

The  City  Hall,  wherein  is  located  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Municipal  Government,  stands 
in  the  Park,  between  the  Post-Office  and  the 
County  Court-House,  and  was  erected  between 
the  years  1803  and  1812,  at  a  cost  of  more  than 
half  a  million  dollars,  the  location  then  being 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  The  edifice  is  of 
white  marble,  with  a  rear  wall  of  brown -stone, 


in  the  Italian  style,  the  dimensions  being  two 
hundred  and  sixteen  feet  long  by  one  hundred 
and  five  deep.  In  contains  the  Mayor's  office, 
Common  Council  Chamber,  and  other  city  of- 
fices, and  the  City  Library.  The  "Governor's 
Room,"  on  the  second  floor,  is  used  for  official 
receptions,  and  it  contains  the  desk  on  which 
George  Washington  penned  his  first  message  to 
Congress,  the  chairs  used  by  the  first  Congress, 
the  chair  in  which  Washington  was  inaugurated 
first  President  of  the  United  States,  and  a  gallery 
of  paintings,  embracing  portraits  of  many  of  the 
mayors  of  the  city,  State  Governors,  and  leading 
national  officers  and  Revolutionary  chieftains, 
mostly  by  well-known  artists.  The  building  is 
surmounted  by  a  cupola  containing  a  four-dial 
clock,  which  is  illuminated  at  night  by  gas.  This 
building  has  been  the  scene  of  many  noteworthy 
episodes  in  city,  State,  and  national  affairs.  Al- 
though the  first  of  the  important  public  buildings 
erected  in  New  York,  it  is  generally  conceded 
to  be  unexcelled  in  purity  and  beauty  of  design. 
The  New  Court-House,  which  stands  close  at 


BUILDINGS. 


43 


hand,  will,  when  fully  completed,  be  a  structure 
fully  worthy  of  a  great  municipal  corporation. 
It  is  constructed  of  white  marble,  and,  in  all  its 
details,  interior  and  exterior,  unites  strength, 
elegance,  and  solidity.  The  prevailing  order  of 
architecture  is  Corinthian,  and  the  general  effect 
of  its  proportions  is  striking.  The  structure  is 
three  stories  in  height,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide, 
and  the  crown  of  the  dome  is  to  be  two  hundred 
and  ten  feet  above  the  sidewalk.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  tower  crowning  the  dome 
should  be  converted  into  a  lighthouse  as  a  land- 
mark for  mariners,  but  this  point  has  not  been, 
so  far,  fully  decided.  The  portico  and  steps, 
with  the  grand  columns,  on  the  Chambers  Street 
front,  are  said  to  be  the  finest  piece  of  work  of  the 
kind  in  America.  The  interior  of  the  edifice  is 
equally  elaborate  and  complete,  the  beams  and 
staircases  being  of  iron,  and  the  finishing  of  hard 
wood.  The  State  Courts  and  several  of  the 
city  departments  have  their  headquarters  in  the 
building.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  scandal  con- 
nected with  the  erection  of  the  building,  as  it 
was  one  of  the  chief  vehicles  of  peculation  by 
the  " Ring "  in  1869-70,  large  sums  appropriated 
for  its  construction  finding  their  way  into  the 
pockets  of  the  existing  city  officials.  The  dome 
shown  in  the  illustration  has  not  yet  been 
erected. 

Among  the  notable  public  buildings,  the  Cus- 


tom-House,  on  the  corner  of  Wall  and  William 
Streets,  attracts  attention  from  its  solid  and 
massive  appearance.  This  edifice,  formerly  the 
Merchants'  Exchange,  is  a  huge  pile  of  Quincy 
granite,  two  hundred  by  one  hundred  and  sixty 
feet,  and  seventy-seven  feet  high.  The  Wall 
Street  portico  has  twelve  front,  four  middle,  and 
two  rear  columns,  each  of  granite,  thirty-eight 
feet  high,  and  four  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter. 
The  rotunda  is  eighty  feet  high,  and  the  dome 
is  supported  on  eight  pilasters  of  fine  Italian 
variegated  marble.  The  cost  of  the  building 
and  ground  was  one  million  eight  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars.  It  is  said  to  be  entirely  inadequate 
for  its  present  use,  so  rapidly  has  the  commerce 
of  the  port  of  New  York  expanded,  and  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  custom-house  has  been  strongly 
urged. 

The  most  imposing  of  the  public  edifices  ot 
New  York  is  the  Post- Office  and  United  States 
Court  Building,  at  the  junction  of  Park  Eow  and 
Broadway.  No  post-office  building  in  the  world, 
we  believe,  exceeds  this  in  size.  The  only  ma- 
terials used  in  its  construction  are  granite,  iron, 
brick,  and  glass;  the  former  coming  from  an 
island  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  The  style  of  ar- 
chitecture adopted  is  that  known  as  the  Doric, 
modified,  however,  by  the  Renaissance.  The 
north  front  of  the  building  is  two  hundred  and 
ninety  feet  in  length,  the  Broadway  front  three 
hundred  and  forty  feet,  and  the  Park  Row  front 


Custom-House,  Wall  Street. 


44 


NKW   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Post  Office,  and  U.  S.  Court  Building. 


three  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  the  clear.  On  I  The  first  floor  is  used  as  the  receiving  depart- 
each  of  these  two  fronts,  however,  there  is  an  nient;  comprising  the  money-order  and  regis- 
angle  which,  running  back  some  distance,  and  j  tering  offices,  stamp  and  envelope  bureaus,  and 
then  projecting,  forms  the  entrance  looking  '  postmaster's  and  secretaries'  private  rooms.  On 
down  Broadway.  The  entire  width  of  this  front  j  the  second  and  third  floors  are  the  United  States 
is  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  These  entering  i  Court  rooms,  and  the  attic  supplies  rooms  to  the 
angles  and  projecting  portico  give  this  front  j  janitor,  watchmen,  etc.  There  are  no  fewer 
a  very  bold  and  striking  appearaDce.  In  the  j  than  twelve  elevators  for  the  various  purposes 
original  design  it  was  intended  that  the  building  of  the  establishment,  and  for  light  and  heat  the 
should  have  a  cellar,  a  basement,  three  stories,  j  most  perfect  contrivances  known  to  art  have 
and  also  an  attic;  but,  through  an  after-thought  j  been  adopted.  It  was  completed  in  the  summer 
of  the  architect,  a  fourth  story  has  been  added,  of  1875,  and  first  occupied  September  1st  of  that 
The  roof  is  of  the  Mansard  style,  the  upright  year. 

portion  being  covered  with  slate,  and  the  flat  We  derive  from  an  article  in  "Scribners 
portion  with  copper.  In  accordance  with  the  Magazine  "  a  few  interesting  statistics.  About 
plans  of  the  architect,  the  basement  consists  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  million  letters,  etc., 
one  vast  department,  which  is  devoted  to  the  |  are  delivered  annually,  and  an  equal  number  are 
sorting  of  letters  and  making  up  of  the  mails,    sent  away.    Over  twelve  hundred  men  are  em- 


4<; 


Cily  Prison,  or  "  The  Tombs. 


ployed,  and  communication  is  kept  up  with 
nearly  thirty-six  thousand  offices. 

As  the  letters  are  consigned  to  the  mail 
through  the  various  "  drops  "  in  the  corridors, 
they  are  "faced  up"  or  put  with  all  their  di- 
rected sides  facing  the  same  way.  As  fast  as 
they  fall  upon  a  table  a  man  prepares  them  for 
the  stamper,  and  after  the  stamper  comes  the 
separator,  who  puts  the  letters  for  each  mail  to- 
gether ;  after  him  the  mail-maker  takes  a  hand 
and  verifies  every  letter  in  each  mail,  ties  them 
into  a  bundle  and  puts  on  each  a  printed  label 
marked  with  its  destination,  and  stamped  with 
his  own  name.  When  the  packages  are  opened 
on  the  postal  car,  the  route  agent  marks  what- 
ever errors  there  may  be  in  them  upon  the  labels 
and  returns  these  to  the  New  York  Post-Office. 
A  rigid  account  of  these  errors  is  kept,  and 
every  man's  percentage  of  correctness  for  a  given 
time  is  set  opposite  his  name,  on  a  sheet  that  is 
conspicuously  posted  in  the  office.  Some  men 
have  become  so  accurate  that  they  will  have  for 
several  months  a  clean  record,  not  having  made 
a  single  mistake  in  the  mailing  of  a  letter.  This 
accuracy  is  one  of  the  tests  upon  which  the  sala- 
ries are  graded  from  time  to  time,  and  there 
is,  consequently,  the  liveliest  emulation  in  the 
matter. 

When  the  mail-maker  has  tied  up  his  letters 
they  go  to  the  poucher,  who  assorts  them,  throw- 


ing the  several  packages  with  unerring  aim  into 
their  several  divisions,  arranged  like  large  pigeon- 
holes in  a  semicircular  fojm.  These  pigeon- 
holes slope  downward  toward  the  back,  and, 
even  while  the  poucher  is  throwing,  the  dis- 
patcher may  be  affixing  the  pouches  at  the  back, 
opening  a  sliding  door  and  emptying  the  mail 
into  the  bags,  which  are  immediately  locked  and 
sent  off  to  the  wagons  which  take  them  to  the 
railway-depots. 

Of  the  whole  number — nearly  a  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  of  letters  and  packages  a  year  at  this 
time — about  one  half  are  distributed  through  box- 
es at  the  central  office,  about  one  fourth  by  car- 
riers, and  about  one  fourth  are  sent  to  the  stations 
in  other  parts  of  the  city.  Every  letter  received 
here  is  stamped  at  once  with  the  hour  of  its  ar- 
rival. All  letters  coming  in  between  ten  and 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  are  stamped  "11 
a.  m."  When  the  hour  turns,  the  stamper  wipes 
his  stamp  clean  of  ink,  lays  it  away  in  a  drawer 
and  takes  a  new  one  with  the  next  hour  upon  it 
and  proceeds  again.  The  greatest  care  is  exer- 
cised to  have  the  stamp  legible. 

At  the  hour  of  departure  of  the  carriers,  the 
delivery  department  is  full  of  animation ;  the 
men  in  their  uniforms  pass  from  one  assorter's 
table  to  another  and  take,  each  from  his  own 
box,  all  the  mail  deposited  therein,  while  the  im- 
passive assorter  goes  right  on  throwing  mail  into 


BUILDINGS. 


47 


the  box  for  the  next  delivery.  Then  you  will 
see  the  carriers  at  a  long  counter,  which  is  di- 
vided by  little  raised  partitions  into  compart- 
ments, each  making  his  mail  into  a  conveniently- 
arranged  bundle. 

In  the  New  York  office  the  accounts  of  in- 
coming and  outgoing  letters  are  carefully  bal- 
anced like  a  cash  balance  every  evening,  and  not 
a  man  is  allowed  to  leave  the  department  if  the 
balance  is  not  correct.  One  night  the  men  were 
kept  until  nearly  morning  looking  for  a  letter 
that  had  dropped  through  a  crack  in  an  old 
table,  and  lodged  in  the  folds  of  a  worn-out  mail- 
bag,  and  so  got  kicked  into  a  corner  during  the 
search.  At  another  time,  when  the  office  was 
at  its  wit's  end  after  a  night  of  search,  it  was 
found  that  an  absent-minded  man  had 
carefully  deposited  his  pen  in  the  safe, 
and  put  the  missing  package  in  the 
pen's  place  in  his  table-drawer. 

The  northern  end  of  the  Post- 
Office  fronts  upon  the  City  Hall  Park, 
which  is  identified  with  the  early  his- 
tory and  growth  of  New  York.  Less 
than  a  century  ago  it  was  looked  upon 
as  the  "  Old  Fields,"  and  the  country 
residences  of  wealthy  citizens  were 
erected  in  and  around  the  adjacent 
grounds.  A  portion  of  the  walls  of  the 


present  Hall  of  Records  constituted,  as  far  back 
as  1758,  the  walls  of  the  colonial  provost  jail, 
and  many  an  incident  might  be  related  of  the 
dark  and  bloody  scenes  enacted  on  the  spot. 
Within  the  last  ten  years  the  Park  has  under- 
gone much  change,  and,  with  its  shrubbery, 
trees,  fountains,  and  broad  walks,  it  now  con- 
stitutes an  attractive  feature  of  this  portion  of 
the  metropolis. 

Were  it  not  that  the  Tombs,  as  the  City  Pris- 
on of  New  York  is  commonly  called,  is  so  un- 
fortunately located,  it  would  be  one  of  the  most 


Court-House,  Sixth  Avenue  and  Tenth  Street. 


18 


NEW   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


U.  S.  Barge  Office,  Bi 


striking  and  impressive  buildings  of  the  metrop- 
olis. It  is  an  admirable  specimen  of  Egyptian 
architecture,  and  the  gloomy  majesty  of  its  as- 
pect assorts  well  with  its  character  as  a  temple 
of  woe  and  misery,  for  here  have  been  performed 
for  nearly  half  a  century  all  the  tragedies  of  justice 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  city.  The  build- 
ing is  a  large  one,  occupying  the  entire  square 
bounded  by  Centre  Street  on  the  east,  Elm  Street 
on  the  west,  Leonard  Street  on  the  south,  and 
Franklin  Street  on  the  north,  but  its  really  grand 
proportions  rare  greatly  dwarfed  by  its  situation, 
which  i3  in  a  deep  hollow,  so  that  the  top  of  its 
massive  walls  scarcely  rises  above  the  level  of 
Broadway,  which  is  about  one  hundred  yards 
distant  from  the  western  facade. 

The  site  was  formerly  occupied  by  the  "  Col- 
lect Pond,"  a  sheet  of  water  connected  with  the 
Hudson  or  North  River  by  a  strip  of  swamp 
through  which  ran  a  little  rivulet  on  a  line  with 
the  present  Canal  Street,  which  derives  its  name 
from  this  circumstance.  The  pond  was  filled  up 
in  1836,  and  the  prison  erected  on  it  within  two 
years.  The  soil,  being  marshy,  was  ill  calculated 
to  bear  the  weight  of  the  solid  structure,  and,  de- 
spite the  fact  that  the  foundations  were  laid 
deeper  than  was  customary,  some  parts  of  the 
wall  settled  so  much  that  fears  were  entertained 
for  the  safety  of  the  entire  building.  It  has  now 
stood  for  over  a  third  of  a  century,  however, 


without  any  noticeable  change,  and  is  considered 
perfectly  safe.  The  name  of  "Tombs"  it  has 
had  ever  since  its  erection,  and  was  given  to  it 
in  consequence  of  its  then  damp  and  unhealthy 
condition,  and  of  its  generally  gloomy  appear- 
ance. Externally  the  building  is  entirely  of 
granite,  and  appears  as  one  lofty  story,  the  win- 
dows being  carried  from  a  point  about  two  yards 
above  the  ground  up  to  beneath  the  cornice. 
The  main  entrance  is  on  Centre  Street,  and  is 
reached  by  a  flight  of  wide,  dark  stone  steps, 
through  an  exceedingly  lugubrious  but  spacious 
portico  supported  by  four  massive  columns.  The 
external  walls  on  the  other  three  sides  are  more  or 
less  broken  up  by  projecting  entrances  and  col- 
umns or  insertions,  infusing  at  least  some  degree 
of  variety  into  the  heavy  monotone  of  the  style. 
The  Court  of  Special  Sessions  and  a  police  court 
are  held  in  the  building.  Internally  the  prison  is 
rather  a  series  of  buildings  than  a  single  struct- 
ure. The  cells  rise  in  tiers  one  above  the  other, 
with  a  separate  corridor  for  each  row.  Besides 
those  awaiting  trial  in  the  Special  Sessions  and 
police  courts,  persons  accused  or  convicted  of 
the  more  heinous  crimes  are  confined  here  until 
they  have  been  tried  before  the  higher  courts, 
or  until  they  depart  for  the  State  Prison,  or  are 
ready  for  the  gallows,  which  is  erected  in  the  in- 
terior quadrangle  of  the  prison,  whenever  an  ex- 
ecution is  to  take  place.   The  visitor  experiences 


BUILDINGS. 


49 


a  sense  of  relief  as  he  hears  the  last  echo  of  his 
footsteps  reverberating  among  the  gloomy  pas- 
sages and  resumes  his  walk  in  the  sunshine. 

One  of  the  most  ornamental  of  the  buildings 
devoted  to  the  uses  of  justice  is  the  Court-House  j 
at  the  intersection  of  Sixth  and  Greenwich  Ave-  | 
nues  and  West  Tenth  Street,  which  is  the  seat  | 
of  the  Third  District  Court.    The  edifice  is  both 
picturesque  and  cheerful  in  its  aspect,  and  would  ; 
not  be  associated  with  its  true  function  by  the  j 
casual  observer,  if  it  were  not  for  the  police- 
officers,  who  may  be  generally  seen  lounging  on 
its  steps  or  passing  in  and  out  of  its  doors.  The 
architecture  is  of  a  composite  nature,  showing 
characteristics  of  the  Byzantine  and  Renaissance, 
but  tastefully  harmonized.    Among  our  minor 
public  buildings,  there  is  none  more  attractive 
than  this,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  city  will 
always  be  as  fortunate  in  using  its  money  to  as 
much  advantage  in  the  erection  of  edifices,  alike 
decorative  and  well  fitted  to  its  uses. 

The  new  United  States  Barge-Office,  which 
is  an  appurtenance  of  the  Custom-House,  is  lo- 
cated on  the  Battery,  adjoining  the  Staten  Island 


Ferry-House.  It  is  a  solid  and  well-built  edifice, 
in  the  Byzantine  style,  and  highly  effective  in  its 
architectural  features.  This  building,  when  com- 
pleted, will  be  used  as  the  landing-place  for  pas- 
sengers from  the  European  steamers  and  the 
reception  of  their  baggage  pending  examination. 
The  inconvenience  and  discomfort  to  which  trav- 
elers have  been  exposed  in  the  past  will  thus 
be  obviated.  The  barge-office  will  also  be  the 
headquarters  of  the  various  boats  used  in  the 
revenue  service.  The  old  barge-office  at  No. 
6  State  Street  has  long  been  inadequate  to  the 
rapidly  expanding  needs  of  the  Custom-House, 
and  the  convenience  of  this  important  branch 
of  the  Government  service  is  much  benefited 
by  the  new  building.  The  different  branches 
of  the  customs  department  of  New  York  have 
been  widely  scattered,  owing  to  insufficient  ac- 
commodation, and  public  necessity  will  ere  long 
compel  the  erection  of  an  edifice  by  the  United 
States  Government,  which  will  embrace  these 
divisions  as  far  as  possible  under  one  roof. 

Passing  from  the  buildings  devoted  to  gov- 
ernment uses  to  those  belonging  to  corporations 


4 


Grand  Central  Depot 


50 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Columbia  College.    (New  building.) 


and  educational  institutions,  that  which  first  sin-  The  external  walls  are  built  of  red  brick  with 
gles  itself  out  for  notice  is  the  Grand  Central  De-  white  trimmings.  The  offices  of  the  three  rail- 
pot,  the  terminal  station  of  the  New  York  Cen-  ways  which  terminate  here  are  on  the  west 
tral,  the  Harlem,  and  the  New  Haven  Railways.  !  and  south  sides,  there  being  three  stories  on  the 
It  is  the  only  large  rail  way-depot  in  the  precincts  west  and  five  on  the  south,  including  the  Man- 
of  New  York,  with  the  exception  of  the  old  !  sard  roof  and  domes.  The  space  for  trains  is 
Hudson  River  Railroad  Station  on  Thirtieth  '  covered  by  a  glass  and  iron  roof,  having  a  single 
Street  and  Tenth  Avenue,  now  used  for  suburb-  i  arch  of  a  span  of  two  hundred  feet,  and  an 
an  trains  only.  The  exterior  is  imposing,  and  j  altitude  of  one  hundred  and  ten  feet.  The  trav- 
•  the  immense  size  and  regularity  give  it  a  marked  '  eler,  as  he  steps  off  a  train  on  the  stone  platform 
prominence,  notwithstanding  the  simplicity  of  \  and  casts  his  eye  upward,  can  have  but  one  sen- 
the  architectural  features,  its  massive  plainness  |  timent,  that  of  unmingled  admiration  for  the  skill 
being  well  suited  to  its  purposes.  Approaching  which  has  spanned  three  acres  with  one  magnifi- 
from  Fifth  Avenue,  the  eye  is  first  caught  by  |  cent  arched  roof.  The  total  length  of  the  build- 
the  great  towers  and  then  by  the  main  or  west-  ■■  ing  is  six  hundred  and  ninety-five  feet,  which  is 
ern  facade.  The  situation  of  this  great  head-  j  also  the  length  of  the  glass  roof,  and  its  width 
quarters  of  the  railway  interest  is  between  two  hundred  and  forty  feet.  Twelve  trains,  con- 
Fourth  or  Park  Avenue  and  Vanderbilt  Avenue,  sisting  of  twelve  cars  and  a  locomotive  each,  can 
and  extends  from  Forty-second  to  Forty-fifth  be  admitted  into  the  great  car-house  at  once, 
Street.  I  standing  side  by  side  on  the  parallel  tracks. 


BUILDINGS. 


51 


Astor  Library. 


Besides  the  various  offices,  passenger  waiting- 
rooms,  and  baggage-rooms,  there  are  a  police- 
station,  a  lunch-room,  and  a  barber's  shop  in 
the  basement.  About  one  hundred  and  twenty  - 
five  trains  arrive  and  depart  daily,  but  every- 
thing is  done  with  such  thorough  system  that 


crowding  or  confusion  is  a  thing  almost  un- 
known. 

The  oldest  and  most  important  of  the  colle- 
giate institutions  in  New  York  is  Columbia,  first 
chartered  in  1754  as  King's  College.  It  now 
ranks  among  the  very  first  colleges .  of  the  coun- 


Lenox  Library. 


NEW   YORK  lUJ'STRATEI). 


try,  coming  next  after  Yale  and  Harvard  in  rep- 
utation, wealth  of  endowment,  and  extended  fa- 
cilities for  scholastic  training.  Previous  to  the 
year  in  which  it  win  chartered,  a  fund  of  about 
thirty-eight  hundred  pounds  was  raised  in  Eng- 
land, to  be  applied  to  the  founding  of  such  an 
institution,  and  out  of  that  fund  the  first  ex- 


penses of  the  college  were  met.  Even  after  the 
granting  of  the  charter  the  college  had  a  hard 
struggle  for  existence,  the  predominance  of  the 
Church  of  England,  or  Episcopal,  element  in  its 
board  of  governors  having  awakened  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  other  religious  denominations.  The 
Trinity  Church  vestry-room  was  used  for  recita- 


tions for  several  years,  and  the  corporation  of 
that  church  finally  set  the  college  firmly  on  its 
feet  by  granting  it  a  portion  of  the  church  lands.  ' 
These  lands  were  between  what  is  now  called 
College  Place  and  Mercer  Street,  and  here  the 
first  college  building  was  erected.  At  the  out-  • 
break  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  in  1776  the 
college  was  looked  upon  as  a  hot-bed  of  Toryism,  1 
and  consequently  the  Committee  of  Public  Safe- 
ty resolved  on  breaking  it  up  by  directing  its  offi- 
cers to  prepare  the  buildings  for  the  reception  of 
troops.  From  this  time  until  1784,  when  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  reincorporated  it  under 
its  present  name,  the  college  was  in  abeyance, 
so  to  speak.  The  library  had  been  scattered 
and  the  buildings  were  in  ruins,  so  that  the  re- 
gents, the  new  governing  body,  had  almost  to 
recreate  the  institution.  The  new  charter  prov- 
ing defective,  it  was  amended  in  1787,  so  that 
the  management  of  the  college  was  vested  in  a 
self-perpetuating  body  of  twenty-four  trustees, 
and  this  body  has  existed  to  the  present  time. 


About  1850  the  old  buildings  on  College  Place 
were  found  to  be  too  far  down  town,  and  the 
present  site,  on  Forty-ninth  and  Fiftieth  Streets 
and  Madison  and  Fourth  Avenues,  was  selected. 

When  the  new  buildings  shall  have  been  en- 
tirely constructed  on  the  plan  projected,  they 
will  make  a  noble  home  for  a  great  and  time- 
honored  institution.  There  are  four  depart- 
ments connected  with  Columbia  College — the 
academic,  the  scientific,  the  legal,  and  the  medi- 
cal— the  latter  being  better  known  as  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  There  are  no  halls 
whatever  connected  with  or  attached  to  the  col- 
lege, the  students  being  supposed  to  reside  with 
their  relatives  or  some  private  family.  The 
corps  of  professors  numbers  about  sixty,  and  the 
income  is  derived  mainly  from  the  rentals  of  the 
real  estate  granted  to  the  college  by  Trinity 
Church. 

The  Astor  Library  must  be  ranked  as  the 
largest  and  finest  collection  of  books  for  the 
general  uses  of  the  scholar  in  New  York,  though 


BUILDINGS. 


53 


the  Lenox  has  more  rare  special  works.  The  front  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  deep.  On  this 
building  is  located  in  Lafayette  Place,  and  is  a  has  been  recently  erected  an  addition,  sixty- 
handsome  and  massive  pile  of  brick  and  brown-  five  feet  wide  by  one  hundred  deep,  in  the  same 
stone,  in  the  Romanesque  style  of  architecture,  general  style  as  the  rest  of  the  building.  The 
The  first  endowment  was  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  total  effect  is  shown  in  the  illustration.  The 
some  thirty  years  ago,  to  the  amount  of  four  |  additional  library  space  will  give  accommoda- 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  was  supple-  tion  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  more 
mented  by  his  son,  William  B.  Astor.  The  volumes,  a  highly  desirable  expansion,  as  the 
property  of  the  library  at  the  present  time  in  j  library  has  for  some  time  been  seriously  embar- 
building,  books,  and  funds,  amounts  to  more  rassed  for  room. 

than  one  million  dollars.    Important  improve-        The  library  as  now  constituted  is  divided  into 

ments  are  now  being  made  by  the  generosity  of  the  Hall  of  Sciences  and  Hall  of  Histories,  the  lat- 

John  Jacob  Astor,  the  present  representative  of  ter  including  everything  in  the  way  of  miscella- 

the  family,  who  in  1879  deeded  to  the  institution  neous  literature.   Above  the  main  reading-rooms 

three  adjacent  lots,  making  seventy-five  feet  there  are  sixty  alcoves,  and  the  volumes  now  on 


St.  Joseph's  Home,  Lafayette  Place. 


the  shelves  very  nearly  approach  two  hundred  |  use  the  alcoves  for  study  and  work  may  also  be 
thousand,  which  can  only  be  used  on  the  premises  obtained,  if  satisfactory  references  are  brought, 
for  reference  purposes.  Any  respectable  person  j  Although  some  of  the  departments  are  deficient, 
may  have  access  to  the  treasures  of  the  institu-  the  Astor  library,  on  the  whole,  may  be  pro- 
tion,  and  the  librarian  and  assistants  are  always  nounced  to  be  remarkably  well  equipped  for  the 
willing  to  assist  the  student  by  suggestions  in  working  needs  of  the  scholar.  The  average 
the  investigation  of  any  study.    Permission  to    yearly  attendance  for  some  years  past  has  been 


5 1 


Ni:\v  TORE  ILLUSTRATED. 


about  sixty  thousand  readers.  Anions  tin-  treas- 
on! in  the  lihrary  are  a  nuniher  of  very  rich 
and  rare  manuscripts  in  (J  reck  and  Latin,  given 
by  Mr.  Astor.  It  has  the  largest  manuscript 
volume  known  ;  it  is  the  volume  of  chants  used 
at  the  coronation  of  the  French  kings  for  many 
years,  and  is  superbly  illuminated  with  vignettes 
by  well-known  early  French  artists.  These 
books  will  be  shown  by  the  librarian  on  applica- 
tion. A  number  of  black-letter  works,  including 
a  copy  of  the  first  printed  Bible,  are  also  in  the 
library,  and  a  fair  collection  of  Shakespeareana. 

During  the  pflfll 
year  the  United 
States  Sanitary 

Oommurion  de- 
posited in  the  As 
tor     Library  the 
archives    of  the 

commission,  and, 
after  a  career  of 
digh  tee  D  years, 
ceased  to  exist. 
These  records  of 
the  most  complete 
and  effective  work 
'n  relieving  the 


Trinity-Parish  School 


sorrows  and  sufferings  of  war  which  the  world 
had  up  to  that  time  seen,  are  a  very  valuable 
monument  to  the  zeal  ami  intelligence  of  the 
American  people,  and  form  an  iinj)ortant  part 
of  the  unwritten  history  of  the  great  '  ivil  war. 

The  only  rival  to  the  Astor,  the  Lenox  Library, 
is  opposite  the  ca>t  side  of  Central  Park,  in  Fifth 
Avenue,  betwt  •  ii  Seventieth  and  Seventy-first 
Streets.  This  gift  to  New  York  was  the  culmi- 
nation of  a  long  series  of  benefactions  which  the 
city  owes  to  the  late  .lames  Lenox,  one  of  it- 
wealthiest  citizens,  and  most  indefatigable  col- 
lectors of  literary  and  art  treasures.  The  present 
building  was  first  opened  to  visitors  in  1H77,  and 
the  entire  cost  of  construction  and  furnishing 
amounted  to  more  than  a  million  dollars.  In 
addition  to  this  there  is  a  permanent  fund  of 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollar-. 

The  building  has  a  frontage  of  one  hundred 
and  ninety -two  feet  and  a  depth  of  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  feet.    The  arrangement  is  a  cen- 
ter and  two  wings,  facing  west  on  the  avenue. 
The  center  has  a  facade  of  ninety-two  feet, 
which  stands  back  forty-two  feet  from  the  front 
of  the  wings,  thus  making  a  courtyard,  which  is 
inclosed  by  a  massive  iron  railing.    The  public 
entrance  is  through  this  courtyard.    The  emem- 
ble  of  the  building  is  solid  and  striking,  the  ma- 
terial being  of  a  light-colored  limestone.  The 
wings  are  divided  into  two  stories 
each,  and  arranged  for  library  and 
reading-rooms,  the  size  being  one 
hundred  and  eight  by  three  hundred 
feet.    The  south  wing  is  devoted  to 
the  less  valuable  books,  and  contains 
shelf-room  for  one  hundred  thousand 
volumes,  while  the  north  wing  is  set 
apart  for  rare  books,  too  precious  for 
ordinary  handling. 

The  picture-gallery  is  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  second  story,  and  con- 
tains about  one  hundred  and  fifty  can- 
vases by  artists  principally  modern, 
but  including  many  noted  names. 

Of  the  books  in  the  collection  a 
very  large  number  are  incunabula,  or 
specimens  of  the  first  products  of  the 
typographic  art — first  editions,  Bi- 
bles, Shakespeareana,  and  Americana. 
There  are  also  copies  of  every  known 
edition  of  Walton's  "Angler,"  of 
Banyan's  ''Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and 
of  nearly  every  known  edition  of 
Milton.  In  illustrated  works,  and  in 
works  on  the  fine  arts  generally,  the 
library  is  also  very  complete.    It  is 


BUILDINGS. 


55 


rich  in  rare  MSS.,  including  illustrated  Bibles  on 
vellum  and  paper,  belonging  to  the  four  cen- 
turies immediately  preceding  the  Reformation. 
There  are  at  present  about  thirty  thousand  vol- 
umes. In  addition  to  the  works  of  art  already 
mentioned,  there  are  many  carvings,  works  of 
statuary,  dric-d-brac,  and  keraraics.  It  is  a  pity 
that  this  fine  museum  of  literary  and  art  wealth 
should  be  practically  sealed  to  the  public  by 
vexatious  restrictions,  the  condition  of  admis- 
sion being  the  procuring  of  a  ticket  from  the 
superintendent  on  the  day  before. 


An  institution  of  which  New  York  is  justly 
proud — for  it  is  the  finest  of  its  kind  in  America — 
is  the  Normal  College,  which  occupies  a  site  in 
Sixty-ninth  Street,  between  Fourth  and  Lexing- 
ton Avenues.  The  building  is  spacious  and  mas- 
sive, and  after  the  ecclesiastical  model.  The 
college  building  proper  is  about  three  hundred 
feet  long,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  wide, 
facing  Fourth  Avenue,  seventy-eight  feet  wide 
in  the  rear,  and  over  seventy  feet  high.  It  is  of 
the  Gothic  style,  and  has  a  lofty  Victoria  tower. 
The  college  is  a  part  of  the  common-school  sys- 


New  York  Hospital,  West  Fifteenth  Street,  belween  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues. 


tern,  and  is  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  the  ostensible  object  being  to  prepare 
young  women  to  teach,  though  but  few  of  the 
graduates  follow  the  profession. 

The  college  contains  thirty  recitation-rooms, 
three  large  lecture-rooms,  a  calisthenium,  a  li- 
brary, six  retiring-rooms  for  instructors,  presi- 
dent's offices,  and  a  main  hall,  capable  of  seating 
sixteen  hundred  students.  Each  recitation-room 
contains  seats  for  forty-eight,  and  each  lecture- 
room  for  one  hundred  and  forty-four  persons. 
The  entire  cost  of  the  building  was  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars.    A  model  or 


training  school  is  erected  in  the  rear,  in  which, 
pupil-teachers  have  an  opportunity  to  supple- 
ment their  theoretic  studies  with  the  practical. 
About  sixteen  hundred  pupils  are  usually  regis- 
I  tered  on  the  college  books,  and  the  course  of  study 
includes  Latin,  physics,  chemistry,  German,  nat- 
ural science,  French,  drawing,  and  music.  It 
costs  the  city  about  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars a  year  to  maintain  this  fine  institution.  The 
discipline  is  said  to  be  very  strict,  and  the  con- 
trol over  the  army  of  young  women  daily  assem- 
bled of  the  most  perfect  order. 

Among  the  many  charitable  institutions  erect- 


f><; 


Ni:w  fOBE  ILLUSTRATED. 


ed  and  controlled  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
St.  Joseph's  Home,  at  the  corner  of  Lafayette 
Place  and  Great  Jones  Street,  is  noteworthy. 
Built  by  St.  Josephs  Union  for  newsboys,  boot- 
blacks, and  similar  waifs  and  Htrays,  it  is  de- 
signed to  furnish  this  large  class  what  shall  be 
at  once  a  home,  a  school,  and  religious  training. 
The  building  will  contain  extensive  schoolrooms, 
a  chapel,  library,  dormitories,  refection- rooms, 
etc.  The  dimensions  are  one  hundred  and  eighty 
by  eighty  feet,  with  a  height  of  ten  stories,  in- 
cluding Mansard  roof  and  basement.  This  edi- 
fice is  made  as  near  fire-proof  as  possible,  win- 

i. 


dow-casings  and  door-frames  being  the  onl\ 
wood  used,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  interior  fit- 
tings being  of  slate  and  marble.  The  admini- 
tration  and  discipline  of  the  institution  will  be 
of  the  most  thorough  character.  The  total  cost 
of  St.  Joseph's  Home  is  estimated  at  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

Another  religious  educational  school  of  much 
interest  in  its  denominational  connection  is  that 
of  Trinity  parUh,  situated  on  New  Church  Stre.  t. 
nearly  opposite  the  rear  of  Trinity  Church.  It 
is  a  handsome  brown-stone  structure  of  modern 
Gothic  architecture,  and  is  exclusively  devoted 


Roosevelt  Hospital,  Ninth  Avenue  and  Fitty-ninth  Street 


to  parochial  interests.    The  school  is  for  boys  I 
only,  and  is  maintained  at  an  outlay  of  six  thou-  I 
sand  dollars  annually.    The  scholars  are  taught 
all  the  English  branches,  Latin,  French,  German,  ' 
and  instrumental  music.    There  are  no  charges 
whatever,  and  the  attendance  is  about  three  hun- 
dred. 

New  York  is  specially  rich  in  hospitals,  some 
being  purely  public  institutions,  and  others  un-  ! 
der  the  control  of  religious  denominations.  Al- 
together there  are  thirty-nine  of  these  beneficent 
asylums  for  the  sick  and  needy,  many  of  them  | 
having  also  special  accommodations  for  paying  | 


patients.  In  most  cases  these  institutions  have 
attained  a  degree  of  excellence  in  management 
and  comfort  in  appointments  which  render  them 
more  desirable  as  refuges  during  illness  than 
almost  any  private  house  or  home.  This  is 
especially  the  case  with  the  New  York,  St. 
Luke's,  and  Roosevelt  Hospitals,  where  by  pay- 
ing a  small  amount  the  best  medical  attendance 
and  nursing  can  be  had. 

First  among  these  great  hospitals  let  us  note 
the  New  York,  which  is  located  in  Fifteenth 
Street,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues.  This 
palatial  building,  with  its  countless  windows  and 


BUILDINGS. 


57 


wide  balconies,  is  a 
commanding  object 
of  attention.  The 
material  used  is  red 
brick  with  stone  and 
iron  facings.  The 
hospital  is  more 
than  a  century  old, 
and  the  corporation 
is  immensely  rich. 
The  present  build- 
ing was  opened  in 
the  spring  of  1876, 
and  its  interior  is 
furnished  sumptu- 
ously. Some  of  the 
rooms  for  private 
patients  are  let  at 
forty  dollars  a  week, 
but  the  charge  for 
patients  in  the  wards 
is  only  seven  dollars 
a  week,  while  the 
deserving  poor  are 
cared  for  gratuitous- 
ly. In  one  of  the  upper  stories  there  is  a 
rium,  roofed  in  with  glass  and  furnished 


Mount  Sinai  Hospital   Sixty-sixth  Street. 


sola- 
with 


The  Lenox  Hospital. 


easy  lounges,  masses  of  flowers,  shrubs,  and 
aquaria.    The  dullest  day  is  cheerful  in  this 
paradise,  and  the  entire  build- 
"  ing  is  arranged  so  as  to  form 

-     _        a  snare  for  sunbeams.  The 
-    -       dietary  is  liberal,  the  nurses 
are  attentive,  and  the  medi- 
cal staff  includes  well-known 
physicians  and  surgeons.  An 
^^"~\JF7T  ambulance  service  is  eonneet- 

"         =31      ed  with  the  institution,  and  all 

^^p^^i  street  accidents  are  brought 
in  regardless  of  the  sufferers' 
ability  to  pay. 

Separate  apartments  for 
the  nurses,  dining-rooms,  and 
lavatories  are  placed  at  the 
end  of  each  ward,  and  each 
of  the  six  stories  is  connect- 
ed with  the  others  by  two 
large  elevators.  All  the  cook- 
ing and  laundry-work  is  done 
at  the  top  of  the  building, 
from  the  rest  of  which  all 
disagreeable  odors  are  thus 
excluded. 

Another  admirable  insti- 
tution of  this  kind  is  the 
Roosevelt  Hospital,  endowed 
by  the  late  James  Roosevelt, 
situated  at  the  corner  of  Fifty- 


58 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


ninth  Street  and 
Ninth  Avenue.  The 

edifioe  is  built  <>n  the 
pavilion  plan,  and  the 
style  of  architecture 
is  the  modern  secular 
Gothic  There  are 
accommodations  for 
one  hundred  and 
eighty  patients,  and 
many  of  the  beds  are 
owned  by  private  In- 
dividuals, this  privi- 
lege being  purchased 
for  three  thousand 
dollars,  and  carrying 
with  it  the  right  to 
send  one  patient  at  a 
time  to  the  hospital. 
The  splendid  accom- 
modations of  this 
hospital  are  surpassed 
by  none  in  the  city. 

The  Mount  Sinai 
Hospital,    which  is 
under  the  control  of 
the  Hebrew  denomi- 
nation, is  in  Lexington  Avenue,  between  Sixty- 
sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  Streets.    The  buildings 
are  of  the  Elizabethan  style  of  architecture,  and 
are  faced  with  brick  and  marble  trimmings.  It 


Booth's  Theatre,  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Sixth  Avenue 


Masonic  Terrple,  on  Twenty-third  Street  and  Sixth  Avenue. 


accommodates  one  hundred  and  sixty  patients. 
It  is  very  complete,  and  embodies  all  the  im- 
provements of  modern  art  in  its  interior  ar- 
rangements for  the  comfort  of  patients. 

Prominent  anions 
public  and  private  edi- 
fices, which  rise  in  tow- 
ers, domes,  and  stately 
proportions,  may  be  ob- 
served the  imposing  fa- 
cade of  another  noble 
hospital  charity,  the 
Lenox  Hospital,  endowed 
by  the  will  of  the  late 
James  Lenox.  It  consists 
of  a  central  building  and 
two  extensive  wings  of  a 
corresponding  character, 
one  of  which  is  partly 
shown  in  the  illustration, 
and  is  situated  in  Seven- 
tieth Street.  The  hospi- 
tal has  also  very  exten- 
sive and  complete  accom- 
modations, and  ranks 
among  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  numerous 
benefactions  of  its  found- 
er.   These  are  but  a  few 


BUILDINGS. 


59 


of  the  charitable  institu- 
tions for  the  sick  in  New 
York,  free  admission  and 
attendance  being  in  all 
cases  given  to  the  poor, 
though  such  as  are  able 
to  pay  are  expected  to 
do  so  according  to  their 
means  and  the  luxury 
of  the  surroundings  fur- 
nished. In  all  essential 
ways,  however,  the  care 
of  the  pauper  is  just  as 
efficient  as  that  of  the 
wealthiest  patient. 

One  of  the  finest 
buildings  in  New  York 
is  the  Masonic  Temple, 
at  the  northeast  corner 
of  Sixth  Avenue  and 
Twenty-third  Street.  Its 
material  is  granite,  and 
it  displays  a  breadth  of 
treatment  in  its  various 
parts,  a  severe  and  clas- 
sical style  in  its  ornamentation,  which  strongly  I  tecture.  The  main  entrance,  in  Twenty-third 
commends  it  to  all  lovers  of  good  taste  in  archi-  I  Street,  is  through  a  Doric  portico  of  coupled 


The  Grand  Opera-House,  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue. 


Seventh  Regiment  Armory. 


80 


NEW   YORK  ILU'STKATEI). 


Doric  columns.  The  first  story  is  devoted  to 
business  purposes.  The  next  story  is  treated  in 
the  Ionic  style,  and  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
Grand  Lodge  and  its  officials.  When  this  body 
is  not  in  session,  however,  the  grand  hall  is  rent- 
ed for  lectures  and  concerts.  The  third  and 
fourth  stories  are  occupied  exclusively  by  lodge 
and  chapter  rooms.  The  Mansard  story  is  used 
by  the  Knight  Templars,  and  is  the  most  com- 
plete commandery,  in  all  its  arrangements,  in 


existence.  It  may  \,c  of  int<-r<M  t<>  stat.-  that 
the  first  subscription  toward  the  erection  of  tin 
building  was  made  by  the  great  tragedian,  Ed- 
win Forrest,  and  that  the  fund  in  a  few  years 
amounted  to  more  than  the  needed  sum.  The 
outlay  of  money  reached  more  than  a  million 
dollars.  The  net  rental  is  devoted  entirely  to 
the  support  of  the  widows  and  orphans  of  Ma- 
sons. 

On  the  same  side  of  Sixth  Avenue,  and  im- 


mediately opposite  the  Masonic  Temple,  is  the 
most  notable  of  the  structures  in  New  York  de- 
voted to  the  drama,  the  splendid  theatre  built  by 
Edwin  Booth,  eleven  years  ago,  as  a  home  for 
tragedy.  It  is  a  truly  noble  edifice,  of  Concord 
granite,  in  the  style  of  the  Renaissance.  The 
dimensions  are  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet 
in  length  and  ninety  feet  in  height,  including 
a  Mansard  roof  of  twenty-four  feet.    The  audi- 


torium seats  about  two  thousand  people,  and  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  its  lines  and  decora- 
tion in  the  world.  It  has  three  galleries,  and,  in 
spite  of  some  unfortunate  changes  in  its  interior 
arrangements  made  by  Mr.  Dion  Boucicault,  still 
remains  the  most  attractive  of  the  New  York 
theatres.  It  is  one  of  the  very  few  theatres 
where  every  part  of  the  stage  can  be  easily  seen 
from  every  seat  in  the  house. 


BUILDINGS. 


61 


Mr.  Booth  filled  his  high  ambition  of  giving 
the  finest  performances  of  tragedy  which  could 
be  put  on  the  stage  in  respect  of  acting,  stage 
setting,  and  general  surroundings,  for  a  few  years, 
but  at  such  ultimate  loss  to  himself  that  he  was 
finally  obliged  to  yield  up  possession  of  his  the- 
atre, a  catastrophe  precipitated  by  the  load  of 
debt  which  had  been  incurred  in  completing  the 
very  costly  structure.    During  the  Booth  regime 


the  Shakespearean  tragedies  were  produced  with 
a  splendor  which  made  the  theatre  the  talk  of 
I  the  country,  and  could  only  be  compared  with 
that  notable  revival  by  Charles  Kean  in  Lon- 
don, a  quarter  of  a  century  since,  considered  by 
the  English  critics  as  one  of  the  landmarks  in 
the  history  of  the  modern  English  stage.  After 
its  failure  in  Booth's  hands,  the  property  was 
sold,  and  since  that  time  has  been  leased  by  a 


succession  of  managers,  who  have  presented 
melodrama,  pantomime,  spectacles,  comedy,  etc. 
One  interesting  feature  of  this  theatre  is  the 
facility  of  exit,  possible  in  case  of  fire  or  other 
exigency.  Seven  doors  on  the  Twenty-third 
Street  side,  leading  directly  from  the  auditori- 
um, can  be  thrown  open  at  once,  and  the  theatre 
be  emptied  in  less  than  two  minutes. 

Two  squares  westward  from  Booth's  Theatre, 


in  Twenty-third  Street,  stands  another  fine  tem- 
ple of  amusement,  the  Grand  Opera-House,  at 
the  corner  of  Eighth  Avenue.  This  is  a  massive 
edifice  of  white  marble,  erected  by  the  Western 
speculator,  Pike,  more  than  a  dozen  years  since. 
It  has  a  front  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  feet 
on  Eighth  Avenue,  and  ninety-eight  feet  on 
Twenty-third  Street.  The  theatre  proper  is  a 
rear  building,  the  approach  to  which  is  through 


62 


NEW  yORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


f||§M 


I 


HS2 


'The  Floience." 


a  spacious  vestibule  from  each  street.  Failing 
as  a  theatre  from  the  very  start,  it  was  purchased 
by  James  Fisk  and  Jay  Gould,  and  the  upper 
stories  occupied  by  the  Erie  Railway  offices  until 
after  the  death  of  Fisk.  A  significant  fact  in 
the  history  of  this  place  of  amusement,  and  one 
well  worth  noticing,  is  that,  after  having  been  a 
permanent  failure  at  high  prices,  it  was  opened 
by  managers  who  were  shrewd  enough  to  see 
the  immense  clientage  which  New  York  afforded 
for  good  performances  at  moderate  rates.  Since 
that  time  the  Grand  Opera-House  has  been  a 
successful  institution,  and  has  given  the  public  a 


class  of  entertainments  fully  up  to  the  general 
average  of  the  dramatic  art,  but  at  popular 
prices. 

The  most  noticeable  building  of  its  kind  in 
New  York  is  the  new  armory  built  for  the  Sev- 
enth Regiment,  occupying  a  complete  block,  be- 
tween Sixty-sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  Streets,  and 
Fourth  and  Lexington  Avenues,  covering  a  site 
two  hundred  feet  by  four  hundred  and  five. 
Facing  Fourth  Avenue  is  the  administration 
building,  which  occupies  the  whole  frontage, 
and  leaves  the  remaining  two  hundred  by  three 
hundred  feet  for  a  drill-room.    There  are  ten 


BUILDINGS. 


63 


company  drill-rooms,  a  board  of  officers1  room, 
a  veterans'  room,  a  reading-room,  a  reception- 
room,  a  field  and  staff  room,  a  gymnasium,  and 
six  squad  drill-rooms.  The  material  is  Philadel- 
phia brick,  with  granite  trimmings,  and  the  cost 
of  it  was  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  interior  was  decorated,  fitted,  and 
furnished  at  the  expense  of  the  regiment  and  the 
contributions  of  the  public,  and  the  armory  may 
justly  be  called  a  magnificent  club-honse,  as  well 
as  the  most  complete  hall  of  military  exercise  in 
the  country. 

Among  the  splendid  buildings  recently  erected 
in  New  York,  the  new  home  of  the  Union  League 
Club,  on  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Thirty- 
ninth  Street,  is  one  of  the  most  noticeable.  The 
architecture  is  composite,  various  styles  being 
harmonized  to  make  a  very  picturesque  exterior. 
It  was  built  and  decorated  at  an  expense  of  about 
four  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  building 
was  expressly  designed  for  the  requirements  of 
a  club-house,  and  is  probably  the  most  complete  j 
structure  of  the  kind  in  America.  On  the  first 
floor  it  contains  a  large  and  well-appointed  read- 
ing and  conversation  room,  billiard-room,  and 
'  cafe.    On  the  second  floor,  extending  the  length 


of  the  Fifth  Avenue  front,  is  the  library,  a  beau- 
tiful and  richly  decorated  room,  containing  a  col- 
lection of  about  three  thousand  volumes.  An 
admirable  arrangement  of  the  bookcases  furnishes 
many  a  cozy  nook  for  the  quiet  reader.  The 
eastern  half  of  the  second  floor  is  devoted  to  the 
art-gallery  and  general  meeting-room  of  the  club. 
The  diuing-room,  in  many  respects  the  most 
notable  apartment  in  the  building,  is  heavily  pan- 
eled with  oak,  and  the  high,  vaulted  ceiling  is 
decorated  from  designs  by  Mr.  John  La  Farge,  of 
Boston.  The  general  decoration  of  the  halls, 
gallery,  meeting-room,  private  dining-room,  and 
other  parts  of  the  house,  is  executed  from  designs 
by  Louis  Tiffany,  of  New  York,  and  Franklin 
Smith,  of  Boston. 

In  Twenty  -  seventh  Street,  extending  from 
Fifth  Avenue  to  Broadway,  is  the  fine  structure 
formerly  known  as  the  Stevens  House,  but  now 
as  the  Victoria  Hotel.  It  was  built  by  the  late 
Mr.  Paran  Stevens,  the  well-known  hotel-keeper, 
as  a  model  example  of  an  apartment -house, 
where  wealthy  families  might  enjoy  all  the 
pleasures  and  comforts  of  housekeeping  with  a 
minimum  of  its  vexations.  It  has  recently  been 
transformed  into  an  hotel,  though  it  appears  to 


Park  Avenue  Hotel. 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


have  been  highly  successful  in  its  adaptation  to 
the  original  purpose. 

Perhaps  the  finest  specimen  of  the  palatial 
apartment-house  now  to  be  seen  in  New  York 
is  the  Florence,  a  superb  edifice  in  Eighteenth 
Street,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Fourth  Ave- 
nue. The-  rents  of  suites  in  this  building  are 
very  high,  and  are  only  within  the  reach  of  the 
wealthy.  For  sumptuousness  and  completeness 
of  appointments,  the  Florence  is  a  model,  as  the 
most  lavish  expenditure  of  money  was  united 
with  all  the  results  of  skill  and  experience  in  its 
building. 

Another  noble  edifice  may  be  seen  at  the 
corner  of  Park  Avenue  and  Thirty-third  Street, 


Western  Union  Company's  Telegraph- Bui Iding. 


built  by  the  late  A.  T.  Stewart,  and  opened  with 
great  c  hit  in  the  spring  of  1  s7h,  as  a  Woman's 
Hotel.     It  is  an  iron  structure  of  immense  size 
and  profuse  ornamentation,  and  designed  to  be 
fire-proof.    This  quondam  charity  proposed  to 
furnish  a  borne  for  the  better  class  of  working- 
j  women  at  rates  within  their  means,  but  the 
experiment  was  found  to  be  practically  a  failure, 
j  whether  the  fault  was  inherent  in  the  design  it- 
i  self  or  in  the  practical  management,  and  after 
;  a  few  months  of  trial  it  was  opened  as  an  hotel 
of  the  established  pattern,  under  the  name  of  the 
Pari  Avenue  Hotel. 

Returning  again  to  down-town  New  York, 
let  us  take  a  brief  glance  at  several  remarkable 
buildings  previously   overlooked.  At 
the  corner  of  Dey  Street  and  Broad- 
way, the  Western   Union  Telegraph 
Company  have  erected  a  noble  edifice 
for  their  otlices.    It  is  eight  stories 
high,  and  is  built  of  pressed  red  brick, 
granite,  ami  marble.    Above  the  roof, 
which  is  higher  than  its  neighbors, 
there  is  a  clock-tower,  and  from  near- 
ly every  window  threads  of  fine  wire 
issue,  connecting  every  important  cen- 
ter of  population,  festoon- 
ing every  great  post-road, 
marking  the  black  track  of 
every  railway,  and,  in  fact, 
literally    blending  town, 
city,  country,  ocean,  and 
river.    Could  we  see  the 
inside  of  the  operating- 
room,  our  pulses  would 
beat  a  stroke   faster  in 
sympathy  with 
the  activity  of 
its  denizens. 

"A  hundred 
keys  and  sound- 
ers," a  writer 
has  said,  "are 
clicking  at 
once,  making  a 
noise  like  a  di- 
minutive cot- 
ton-mill. The 
floor  is  filled 
with  ranges  of 
tables,  at  which 
the  operators 
are  seated,  sep- 
arated  from 
each  other  by 
glass  screens. 


BUILDINGS. 


05 


Against  one  wall  is  the  switch-board,  the  most 
conspicuous  object  in  the  room.  Without  any- 
actual  resemblance,  it  recalls  to  the  imaginations 
of  many  of  the  visitors  the  thought  of  a  great 
organ,  its  ranges  of  slender  wires  behind  the 
screen  suggesting  the  trackers  and  pipes  and  the 
innumerable  switches  representing  the  keys  and 
stops.  Boys  are  passing  to  and  fro  with  papers, 
and  messages  are  being 
sent  and  received  from  al- 
most every  table  in  the 
room.  The  switch-board 
is  the  central  ganglion  of 
the  whole  system.  Every 
current  passes  through  this 
apparatus.  The  manager, 
standing  here,  can,  by  in- 
serting a  brass  wedge  in 
the  course  of  any  current, 
hear  what  message  is  pass- 
ing. He  has  thus  the  means 
of  inspecting  and  listening 


marks  the  place.  The  old  drab  building  of  the 
"  Tribune,"  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  landmarks 
of  journalism,  has  been  supplanted  by  a  new 
structure,  finished  in  its  present  state  about 
four  years  ago,  but  still  incomplete  so  far  as 
affects  the  whole  plan.  This  new  structure  is 
one  of  the  largest  and  handsomest  newspaper 
offices  in  the  world.  Its  style  is  composite, 
and  it  is  constructed  of 
red  pressed  brick,  granite, 
marble,  and  iron.  It  is 
one  story  higher  than  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph 
Office,  and  is  the  highest 
building  on  Manhattan  Isl- 
and. Above  the  nine  sto- 
ries there  is  a  lofty  clock- 
tower,  visible  from  all 
points  around  the  city, 
than  which  the  "Tribune 
Association "  could  not 
have  erected  a  more  suit- 


The  "Tribune"  and  "Times"  Buildings,  Printing-House  Square. 


to  all  that  is  going  on  over  all  the  wires  connected 
with  the  office." 

Passing  the  City  Hall  Park  we  enter  what  is 
known  as  Printing-House  Square,  from  the  fact 
that  the  principal  newspaper  buildings  of  New 
York,  including  the  "  Times,"  "Tribune,"  uSun," 
"World,"  and  " Staats-Zeitung,"  are  there  lo- 
cated. A  bronze  statue  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, erected  under  the  auspices  of  Captain  Ben- 
jamin De  Groot  in   1871,  also  appropriately 


able  monument  to  the  advancing  power  of  jour- 
nalism. 

A  few  squares  up  Broadway  we  reach  the 
imposing  building  of  the  New  York  Life  Insur- 
ance Company  at  the  corner  of  Leonard  Street, 
one  of  the  finest  ever  erected  by  private  enter- 
prise in  xlmerica.  It  is  of  pure  white  marble, 
of  the  Ionic  order  of  architecture,  the  design 
having  been  suggested  by  the  temple  of  Erec- 
theus  at  Athens.    The  exterior  is  a  model  of 


66 


\i:w  York  riAUSTBATED. 


architectural  taste,  and  the  offices  within  art- 
remarkable  for  beauty  and  convenience.  The 
appointments  of  the  interior  are  very  handsome 
and  tasteful. 


in  the  country.  We  give  here  also  a  view  of  the 
establishment  of  A.  T.  Stewart  A:  Co.,  in  Broad- 
way, between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Streets,  proba- 


The  company  is  one  of  the  oldest  |  bly  the  most  extensive  trade  palace  in  the  world. 


CHURCHES. 


67 


CIIUKCIIES. 


THE  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  New  York  are 
worthy  of  the  greatness  of  the  city  in  num- 
ber, size,  and  architectural  beauty.  The  principal 
denominations  seem  to  have  vied  with  each  other 
in  erecting  noble  churches,  and  in  no  direction 
have  the  wealth  and  public  spirit  of  the  citizens 

of  the  metropo- 
lis shown  them- 
selves more  effi- 
ciently. First 
among  the  tem- 
ples of  religion 
which  are  spe- 
cially noticeable 
must  be  men- 
tioned Trinity, 
the  principal 
church  of  Trin- 


ity Parish,  a  corporation  closely  woven  with  the 
history  of  New  York,  and  remarkable  for  the 
extent  of  its  charities,  and  the  important  part  it 
plays  in  the  denominational  interest  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  of  America. 

Standing  at  the  head  of  Wall  Street  in  Broad- 
way, it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  cathedral- 
like and  elegant  structures  in  the  country.  Its 
position,  right  in  the  thick  of  the  business  traf- 
fic, which  beats  against  its  very  walls  and  rever- 
berates with  a  roar  like  that  of  the  ocean-surf, 
gives  the  location  a  peculiar  interest  and  sug- 
gestiveness;  and  when  the  mellow  chimes  ring 
out  their  rich  music  over  the  struggle  of  the 
worldly  battle  below,  the  reflective  bystander 
can  hardly  help  a  rush  of  strange  thoughts. 
Before  describing  the  church,  let  us  briefly 
glance  at  the  history  of  the  church  organiza- 


Trinity  Church  ar.d  Martyrs'  Monument. 


68 


NKW   YORK  ILU'STKATKI). 


tion,  which  is  the  oldest  and  richest  in  tin  I'nited 
States. 

The  land  on  which  Trinity  Church  now  itaildfl 
was  granted  by  the  English  Government  in  1GU7, 
being  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary,  the  location  being  fixed  a^  "  in  or  near 
to  a  street  without  the  North  Gate  of  the  city, 
commonly  called  Broadway."    Kight  year-  later. 


per  annum.  This  amount  goes  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  parish  ch  u  rch  and  six  chapels,  and 
a  multitude  of  charities  connected  with  them, 
and  to  keeping  alive  about  a  dozen  other  churches 
in  the  poorer  quarters  in  the  city.  The  fir-i 
church  was  completed  in  U'»!)7,  and  stood  un- 
changed for  forty  years,  when  it  was  almost  re- 
built.   At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  it  WBi 


in  1705,  t  he  ei it  ire  t  raet  bet  ween  Yesc\  and  (  bris-  closed  for  a  time,  owing  to  the  p»  irsisteOOS  of  the 
topher  Streets  along  the  North  River,  known  as  I  clergy  in  reading  the  prayers  for  the  King  of 


44  Queen  Anne's  Farm,"  was 
presented  to  the  church  from 
the  same  source.  A  large  por- 
tion of  this  magnificent  en- 
dowment is  still  controlled  by 
the  organization,  but  for  many 
years  parts  of  it  were  be- 
stowed with  a  liberal  hand  on 
all  sorts  of  institutions  that 
could  present  a  plausible  claim 
for  assistance.  The  landed 
property  of  Trinity  is  popu- 
larly supposed  to  be  something 
enormous,  and  so  it  appears 
when  figured  out  at  building- 
lot  prices.  When  estimated, 
however,  by  the  income  de- 
rived from  it,  the  total  is  not 
so  very  startling,  being  only 
about 


St.  Paul's  Chapel — View  from  Graveyard. 


Knghind.  When  the  British  army  had  estab- 
lished it-elf  again  firmly  in  the  city,  the  doors 
were  again  opened,  but  after  a  few  days  it  was 
destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1770,  which  con- 
sumed four  hundred  and  ninety-ihree  houses. 
It  was  not  rebuilt  until  twelve  years  had  elapsed, 
the  congregation  worshiping  in  the  mean  time 
in  St.  Paul's  Chapel.  The  structure  then  erected 
>too«l  until  lsij'.i,  when  it  was  pronounced  unsafe, 
and  pulled  down  to  make  way  for  the  present 

one,  which  was 
finished  in  1K4C. 

This  is  still 
one  of  the  hand- 
somest specimens 
of  (iothic  church 
architecture  in 
the  city,  and  its 
right  to  rank  as 
the  most  conspic- 
uous structure  of 
the  lower  part  of 
the  city  has  not 
yet  been  taken 
away  by  t  h  e 
many  stately  pub- 
lic and  corporate 
buildings  that 
have  been  reared 
in  the  neighbor- 
hood since  its 
dedication.  Look- 
ing up  from  Wall 
Street  we  see  its 
steeple  rising  to  a 
height  of  two 
hundred  and 
eighty-four  feet, 
conveying  an  im- 
pression of  size 
which  buildings 
of  greater  dimen- 
sions but  less  for- 
tunately situated 
do  not  give.  The 
material  used — a 


CHURCHES. 


69 


brown  sandstone — also  helps  to  increase  the  gen- 
eral effect,  offering  as  it  does  a  decided  contrast  to 
the  marble  and  granite  of  this  financial  quarter,  on 
the  ears  of  whose  denizens  the  famous  church 
chimes  break  with  refreshing  sweetness.  The 
doors  are  generally  open  in  the  daytime,  and 
nowhere  else  probably  can  a  more  striking 
change  of  surroundings  be  produced  in  a  few 
seconds  than  by  walking  during  business  hours 
from  the  mercenary  uproar  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change, only  a  few  yards  distant,  through  these 
doors.     The  stillness  is  only  broken  by  the 
hushed  and  apparently  distant  rumbling  of  the 
incessant  traffic  in  Broadway  and  the  chirrup- 
ing of  the  English  sparrows,  dwellers  of  the  trees 
in  the  churchyard.    The  gray  tint  of  the  groined 
roof   and  its   supporting  rows  of  carved 
Gothic  columns  is  mellowed  by  the  subdued 
daylight,  which  is  warmed  and  toned  in  its 
passage  through  the  richly  stained  windows, 
while  the  altar  and  reredos  rise  with  their 
picturesque  alternations  of  color  wherein 
red  and  white  predominate,  and  form  an 
artistic  ensemble  well  worthy  of  contempla- 
tion. 

This  altar  and  reredos  were  built  to  the 
memory  of  the  late  William  B.  Astor  by  his 
two  sons,  the  reredos  occupying  nearly  the 
whole  width  of  the  chancel,  and  being  car- 
ried up  some  twenty  feet  from  the  floor. 
The  altar  is  eleven  feet  long,  and  is  con- 
structed of  pure  white  statuary  marble,  with 
shafts  of  Lisbon  red  marble  supporting  capi- 
tals carved  in  natural  foliage,  dividing  the 


front  and  side  into  panels.  In  the  central  panel, 
which  is  carved  with  passion-flowers,  is  a  Maltese 
cross  in  mosaic,  set  with  cameos ;  a  head  of  Christ, 
and  the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists.  Two  kneeling 
angels  flank  it.  The  other  panels  are  carved  with 
ears  of  wheat,  also  in  mosaic.  The  white-marble 
slab  is  set  on  a  cornice  composed  of  grape-vines, 
and  is  inlaid  with  five  crosses  of  red  marble. 
The  super-altar  is  of  red  Lisbon  marble  with  the 
words  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy  "  in  mosaics  on  its  face, 
and  its  shelf  is  continued  on  each  side  the  whole 
length  of  the  reredos  for  the  reception  of  flowers 
at  festivals.  The  design  of  the  reredos  is  perpen- 
dicular Gothic,  and  the  material  is  Caen-stone 
elaborately  carved  after  natural  foliage.  In  the 
lower  portion,  on  each  side  of  the  altar,  are  three 


Grace  Chu  ch,  corner  of  Broadway  and  Tentn  Street. 


7<> 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Square  panels  filled  with  colored  mosaic*  in  gco- 
motrical  patterns;  and  above  the  line  of  the 
super-altar  are  seven  panels  of  white  marble, 
sculptured  in  alto  rilievo,  representing  taoidents 
in  the  life  of  Christ  immediately  preceding  and 
subsequent  to  the  last  supper.  The  reredos  is 
divided  into  three  bays  by  buttresses  with  vari- 
ous religious  representations  in  them,  including 
statuettes  of  the  twelve  apostles.  Both  the  altar 
and  the  reredos  are  exceedingly  beautiful,  and 
add  much  to  the  interest  of  grand  old  Trinity, 
which  has  always  been  an  attraction  to  visitors. 

A  variety  of  charities  are  connected  with  the 
church,  including  the  Trinity  Infirmary  for  the 
sick  poor  of  the  parish;  five  beds  at  St.  Lake's 
Hospital;  B  burial-place  for  the  poor,  and  a 
burial-place  for  the  cler-  , 
gy.    There  are  also  five 
scholarships  in  Trinity 
College,    Hartford,  the 


St.  Augustine  Chapel,  East  Houston  Street. 


holders  of  which  are  relieved  from  all  term 
bills,  fees,  and  charges  dining  their  college 
course. 

In  the  ancient  churchyard  are  to  be  seen 
many  memorials  of  interest.  Here  reposes  tin- 
body  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  «lain  by  Burr  in 
the  celebrated  duel ;  and  here,  close  at  hand,  i* 
the  tomb  of  Captain  Lawrence,  whose  dying 
wonk  as  he  lay  on  the  bloody  deck  of  the  Ches- 
apeake, "Don't  give  up  the  ship!"  are  familiar 
to  every  American  schoolboy.  There  i-  also  a 
beautiful  brown-stone  monument,  built  by  the 
Trinity  Corporation,  in  memory  of  "Patriotic 
Americans  who  died  during  the  devolution  in 
British  prisons."  This  was  done  at  a  time  u  hen 
it  was  proposed  to  extend  Pirn-  Street  along  the 
line  on  which  it  now  stands,  ami  has  generally 
been  regarded  as  a  diplomatic  move  to  prevent 
the  desecration  of  the  old  churchyard.  No  one 
should  visit  the  church  without  inspecting  the 
graveyard,  for  here  are  to  be  seen  many  vener- 
able moss-covered  stones,  with  their  ancient  in- 
scriptions, some  of  tin  in  very  (plaint  and  curi- 
ous, the  connecting  links  between  the 
living  and  the  dead. 

The  chapels  of  Trinity,  most  of 
them  fine  churches  in  themselves,  are 
St.  Paul's,  St.  John's.  Trinity  Chapel. 
St.  Chryso-tom's.  St.  Augustine's,  and 
St.  Cornelius's,  the  last  being  on  Gov- 
ernor's Island  in  the  harbor,  and  de- 
voted to  the  use  of  the  military  chapel. 
Most  of  the  churches  of  the  parish  are 
free,  or  nearly  so,  the  exception  being 

J pews,  which  belong  to  old  families,  and 
f     have  been  held  for  generations. 
>  St.  Paul's  is  as  well  known  to  the 

B  New-Yorker  as  the  parent  edifice.  It 
was  the  third  church  built  in  the  city, 
the  first  being  Trinity,  the  second  St. 
George's,  which  stood  at  the  corner  of 
Beekman  and  Cliff  Streets,  and  was 
also  built  by  the  Trinity  Corporation, 
though  the  present  St.  George's  in 
Rutherford  Place  is  an  independent 
organization. 

The  corner-stone  of  St.  Paul's  was 
laid  in  1764,  and  it  was  finished  two 
years  later.  "When  this  church  was 
built,  the  frontage  toward  the  North 
River  was  regarded  as  superior  to  that 
on  Broadway.  So  the  rear  of  the  edi- 
fice now  faces  the  great  artery  of  New 
York  life  and  traffic.  The  position  of 
the  church  is  between  Fulton  and 
Vesey  Streets,  and  the  casual  spectator 


St   Patrick's  Cathedral,  Fifth  Avenue. 


\'i:\V  YORK  [LLU8TRATED. 


is  for  a  time  perplexed  as  he  notices  the  tower 
on  the  rear  of  the  elnircli,  and  the  massive  porch 
and  pillars  denoting  the  main  entrance,  acces- 
sible only  thr<»u-h  the  churehyard  on  the  side. 
Perhaps  this  irregularity  adds  to  the  sense  of 
antiquity  and  strangeness  which  one  inevitably 
feels  in  looking  through  the  iron  fenee  into  the 

solemn  old  grave- 
yard, with  its  mol- 
dy and  time-eaten 
tombs. 

St.  Paul's,  as  it 
now  stands,  is  the 
oldest  church  edi- 
fice in  the  city,  the 
original  Trinity 
Church  having 
been  destroyed  af- 
ter its  erection,  and 
the  yard  around  it 
adds  to  its  venera- 
ble associations.  In 
the  rear  wall  fac- 
ing Broadway  is  a 
memorial  tablet  to 
General  Richard 
Montgomery,  who 
fell  in  battle  in  the 


Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-fifth  Street 


ill-fated  Quebec  expedition  during  tie  Revo- 
lutionary War;  while  in  the  churchyard  are 
monuments  to  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  the  Irish 
patriot.  Gfoorge  Frederick  Cooke,  the  celebrated 
ESigKfli  actor,  ind  others.  The  monument  to 
Cooke  was  built  at  the  expense  of  the  great 
Kdmund  Kean,  when  that  actor,  who  had  an 
unbounded  admiration  of  Cooke,  was  in  this 
country  ;  and  it  was  afterward  successively  re- 
stored by  Cliarles  Kean  and  Kdward  Sot  In  in.  the 
well-known  comedian  who  recently  died.  This 
most  (piaint  and  interesting  spot,  w  ith  its  ancient 
tombs  bearing  names  of  the  foremost  old  New 
York  families,  is  well  worth  a  visit  by  those  who 
have  any  antiquarian  sympathies,  or  who  would 
seclude  themselves  for  a  short  time  in  a  place 
only  a  few  t'ect  from  the  fevered  life  of  the  street, 
and  bury  themselves  in  the  silent  recollections  of 
the  past.  It  is  inte  resting  to  note  that  many  old 
families  residing  far  up-town  still,  by  force  of 
long  association,  attend  service  at  this  ancient 
shrine. 

St.  Augustine's  Chapel,  another  of  the  edifices 
;  connected  with  Trinity  Parish,  is  in  Houston 
j  Street,  just  east  of  the  Bowery.    It  was  fin- 
ished in  1877,  and  is  one  of  the  most  complete 
and  pretty  little  chnrchee  in  New  York.    Jt  is 
built  of  brown-stone,  in  the  Gothic  style,  and 
contains  schoolrooms  as  well  as  a  chapel.  The 
steeple  bears  at  its  summit  a  crystal  cross,  which 
on  Sunday  and  feeat-dsj  nights  is  illumined  by 
gas-jets  placed  within  it,  so  that  it  is  seen  shining 
out  clearly  against  the  sky  for  some  distance 
away.    The  interior  is  of  the  Queen  Anne  style, 
and  is  well  worth  a  visit  as  the  best  specimen  of 
the  kind  in  New  York.    The  entrance  from  the 
street  is  through  a  broad  archway,  with  orna- 
mental iron  gates  opening  into  a  spacious  pas- 
sage-way, with  an  encaus- 
tic-tile pavement  and  tim- 
',.  bered  ceiling.    The  walls 

§£  -^'gr^,  are  built  of  neutral-tinted 

brick,  with  bands  of  terra- 
cotta tiles  underneath  the 
brackets,  carrying  the  ash 
beams  of  the  paneled  ceil- 
ing. A  low  round  arch  at 
the  end,  with  glass  doors, 
forms  the  entrance  to  the 
chapel  vestibule.  The 
chapel  is  a  mass  of  rich 
color,  caused  by  the  com- 
bination of  mahogany  raf- 
ters, ornamental  walls  and 
ceilings,  polished  brass  gas- 
fixtures,  butternut-wood 


CHURCHES. 


73 


pews,  etc.;  and  the  effect 
is  of  the  most  pleasing 
kind.  The  ground  occu- 
pied by  the  entire  build- 
ing, of  which  the  chapel 
occupies  the  rear  only, 
is  eighty-six  feet  wide 
in  front  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty  in  the  rear,  with 
a  depth  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty  feet.  The 
schools  and  mission- 
rooms  are  also  hand- 
somely furnished,  and 
worthy  of  a  visit.  The 
surrounding  district  is 
very  poor,  and  this  beau- 
tiful chapel  is  the  only 
Episcopal  place  of  wor- 
ship for  quite  a  distance, 
thus  filling  a  most  im- 
portant religious  func- 
tion in  this  portion  of 
the  city.  Perhaps  the 
greatest  value  of  Trinity 
Parish  as  an  organiza- 
tion is  this  genuine  ser- 
vice for  the  wants  of  the 
poor. 

Grace  Church,  at  the 
corner  of  Tenth  Street 
and  Broadway,  is,  after 
Trinity,  the  richest  par- 
ish in  New  York,  and, 
as  may  be  fancied,  is  one 
of  the  most  fashionable 
places   of  worship. 
It  has  been  the  scene 
of  more  aristocratic 
weddings  and  funer- 
als than  any  other 
place    of  worship. 
The    bridal  parties 
that  the  celebrated 
sexton,  Brown,  who 

died  about  a  year  ago,  ushered  into  its  sacred 
precincts  during  his  long  career,  would  cover 
a  catalogue  of  the  most  distinguished  family 
names  in  New  York.  The  present  structure  was 
erected  in  1845,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  churches 
in  the  city,  the  material  being  of  white  gran- 
ite, and  the  style  a  chaste  but  yet  ornamental 
Gothic.  Its  position  is  probably  the  best  in  the 
city,  considered  from  an  architectural  point  of 
view,  standing  as  it  does  just  where  Broadway 
leaves  its  direct  northern  course  and  takes  a  sud- 


Church,  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  and  Sixty-third  Street. 


den  turn  to  the  northwest,  so  that  the  porch  and 
the  steeple  completely  close  the  view  from  the 
south.  The  parsonage  of  the  church  is  similar  in 
design,  adjoins  the  church-building  on  the  north, 
and  stands  back  from  the  busy  street.  Adjoining 
the  church  on  the  south  stands  a  small  addition, 
in  design  and  material  like  the  church,  which  is 
used  for  daily  services,  and  is  called  the  chantry. 
The  funds  necessary  for  its  erection  were  fur- 
nished by  Miss  Catherine  Wolff.  A  new  build- 
ing, connecting  the  church  with  the  rectory,  was 


74 


NEW  FORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Synagogue,  Lexington  Avenue  and  Fifty-fifth  Street 


erected  in  1880,  and  is  used  as  a  study,  vestry- 
room,  etc. 

It  is  not,  however,  in  the  exterior,  attractive 
as  this  may  be,  that  the  visitor  to  New  York 
will  find  the  most  pleasure.  There  is  a  positive 
aesthetic  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  the  simple 
and  yet  luxurious  and  rich  interior  of  the  build- 
ing, which  is  flooded  on  fine  days  with  the  light 
filtered  through  the  stained-glass  windows.  The 
music  is  among  the  very  best  in  the  city,  as  the 
choir  is  made  up  of  distinguished  vocalists,  and 
there  are  two  organs,  connected  by  electricity, 
which  the  organist  can  use  together.   The  rector, 


Re?.  l>r.  Potter,  li  one  of  the 

BlOfl  eloquent  and  effective 
preachers  in  New  York.  <  >n 
a  fine  Sunday  morning  one 
may  see  perhaps  a  more  splen- 
did parade  of  the  wealth  and 
fashion  of  the  city  than  is 
gathered  within  the  walls  of 
arn  other  church. 

The  finest  and  most  im- 
posing church-building,  not 
only  in  New  York,  but  in  the 
N\  u  World,  ii  the  new  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  which,  al- 
though the  spires  are  yet  un- 
finished. i»  a  mai_rnih<ent  spec- 
imen of  Gothic  architecture. 
It  occupies  the  most  elevated 
site  in  Fifth  Avenue,  extend- 
ing the  entire  front  of  the 
block  on  the  east  side,  be- 
tween Fiftieth  and  Fifty-first 
Streets,  and  running  back  to 
tfftdisot)  Avenue.  When  the 
Chapel  of  Our  Lady,  which 
is  included  in  the  design,  is 
completed,  the  building  will 
cover  the  whole  square. 

This  grand  Roman  Cath- 
olic Cathedral  has  now  been 
building  for  twenty-three 
years,  ami  it  will  probably 
not  be  fully  finished  in  all 
the  details  of  its  design  for 
several  years  to  come.  It 
was  projected  by  Archbishop 
Hughes,  in  1850,  and  the  plans 
were  soon  afterward  drawn 
by  James  Ren  wick.  The  cor- 
ner-stone was  laid  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  hundred  thousand 
people,  on  August  15,  1858. 
At  that  time  very  few  of  the 
fine  residences  which  now  line  Fifth  Avenue  for 
miles  above  the  cathedral  had  been  built,  and 
there  was  no  house  to  be  seen  from  Fifth  to 
Sixth  Avenue.  The  architecture  of  the  cathe- 
dral is  of  the  decorated  or  geometric  style  that 
prevailed  in  Europe  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
of  which  the  Cathedrals  of  Rheiras,  Cologne,  and 
Amiens  on  the  Continent,  and  the  naves  of  York 
Minster,  Exeter,  and  Westminster,  are  fine  ex- 
ponents. The  ground-plan  is  in  the  form  of  a 
Latin  cross,  and  the  dimensions  are :  interior 
length,  three  hundred  and  six  feet;  breadth  of 
nave  and  choir,  ninety-six  feet,  without  the 


CHURCHES. 


75 


chapels,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  with 
the  chapels ;  length  of  the  transept,  one  hundred 
and  forty  feet;  height,  one  hundred  and  eight 
feet;  height  of  side-aisles,  fifty-four  feet.  The 
Fifth  Avenue  front  consists  of  a  central  gable,  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  feet  in  height,  with  towers 
and  spires  each  three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in 
height ;  but  at  present  the  towers  reach  only  to 
the  roof.    The  design  of  the  grand  portal  also 
contemplates  the  statues  of  the  twelve  apostles 
to  be  placed  within  it,  but  this  has  not  yet  been 
done.    The  building  is  of  white  marble,  with  a 
base-course  of  granite.    The  interior  of  the  ca- 
thedral is  as  fine  as  its  exterior.    The  massive 
columns  which  support  the  roof  are  of  white 
stone,  thirty-five  feet  in  height,  and  clustered, 
having  a  combined  diameter  of  five  feet.  The 
ceiling  is  groined,  with  richly-molded  ribs  and 
foliage-bosses.    The  springing  line  of  the  ceiling 
is  seventy-seven  feet  from  the  floor.    The  organ- 
gallery,  in  the  nave  between  the  towers,  is  forty- 
six  feet  wide  and  twenty-eight  feet  long,  and  is 
built  of  ash,  with  richly-molded  front  and  ceiling. 
A  temporary  organ  has  been  placed  in  this  gal- 
lery, and  a  smaller  one  permanently  built  in  the 
■  sanctuary.    The  high-altar  is  forty  feet  high,  and 
the  table  was  constructed  in  Italy  of  the  purest 
marble,  and  inlaid  with  semi-precious  stones. 
The  bas-reliefs  on  the  panels  have  for  their  sub- 
jects the  Divine  Passion.    The  tabernacle  over 
the  altar  is  of  white  marble,  decorated  with  Ro- 
man mosaics  and  precious  stones,  and  with  a  door 
of  gilt  bronze.    The  altar  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
is  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  north  side-aisle  of  the  \ 
sanctuary,  and  is  of  carved  French  walnut.   The  j 
sacristy  is  placed  in  the  east  of  the  south  aisle  of 
the  sanctuary,  and  St.  Joseph's  altar,  of  bronze  1 
and  mosaic,  is  in  front  of  it.    The  altar  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  is  of  bronze.    The  four  altars  cost 
about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.    The  Car- 
dinal's throne  is  on  the  gospel  (right)  side  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  is  of  Gothic  design.    The  altar  of 
the  Holy  Family  is  of  white  Tennessee  marble, 
and  the  reredos  of  Caen-stone;  over  the  altar  ' 
hangs  a  painting  of  the  Holy  Family  by  Costaz-  1 
zini.    There  are  four  hundred  and  eight  pews,  ! 
of  ash,  having  a  seating  capacity  of  twenty- 
six  hundred,  and  the  aisles  will  afford  standing- 
room  for  nearly  as  many  more.    The  cathedral 
is  lighted  by  seventy  windows,  thirty-seven  of 
which  are  memorial  windows.    They  were  main- 
ly made  at  Chartres,  France,  cost  about  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  and  were  presented  by 
parishes  and  individuals  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.    The  total  cost  of  the  cathedral,  up  to 
the  present,  has  been  a  trifle  over  two  million 


dollars,  and  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  half  a 
million  more  will  be  needed  to  complete  the 
design.  The  cathedral  was  solemnly  dedicated, 
with  effective  ceremonies,  on  Sunday,  May  25, 
1879,  by  Cardinal  McCloskey.  Services  are  held 
in  this  church  every  day. 


Forty-second  Street. 

A  few  words  may  be  said  in  reference  to  the 
church  architecture  of  Fifth  Avenue,  which  is 
imposing  to  the  spectator  from  its  variety  and 
beauty  of  form.  In  one  shape  or  another  it 
has  reminiscences  of  every  style.    It  is  Roman- 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


esqne;  it  is  Byzantine;  it  is  modem  (lamboy- 
ant;  it  has  some  characteristics  of  the  positive 
Renaissance;  here  and  there  it  suggests  tlie 
Lombafd-Gothi( .  the  Italian,  or  the  Norman; 
and  it  is  always  interesting  from  its  eostliness 


St.  Bartholomew's,  Madison  Avenue. 


and  massiveness.     One  of  the  specimens  of 
fine  church  architecture  in  Fifth  Avenue  is  the  I 
Dutch  Keformed  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Forty-  I 
eighth  Street.     This  is  modernized  Gothic  in  ■ 
style  and  brown-stone  in  material ;  and,  if  any  j 


fault  i-  to  he  found  with  it,  it  is  with  the  wooden 
frames  to  the  itained-glass  window-,  that  were 
put  iij)  in  the  temporizing  -pint  that  spoils  so 
much  of  the  honest  architecture  of  this  country. 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  irregular  and 
picturesque  style  of  church-building  is  the  Jew  i-li 
temple  at  the  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  and 
Sixty-third  Street.  The  predominant  element  i- 
the  Hyzantinc,  though  this  is  strongly  modilied 
by  the  Gothic,  the  most  pronounced  mark  of  the 
latter  being  the  great  ro-e-window.  The  ten- 
dency to  extreme  decoration  noticeable  in  the 
fanciful  trickery  of  the  stone-work  in  the  upper 
portion  of  the  church  is  not  carried  off  by  the 
sense  of  height  and  mass.  Hut,  in  spite  of  this 
fault,  the  effect  of  the  church  on  the  eye  is  highly 
agreeable  an  impression  riot  lessened  when  tin- 
visitor  enters  the  building  and  takes  note  of  the 
splendid  interior  decorations. 

The  growth  of  the  Jewish  (  lenient  in  New- 
York  to  be  such  an  important  factor  of  life,  is 
very  well  illustrated  in  many  costly  and  beauti- 
ful synagogues.  There  are  sixteen  regular  syna- 
gogues and  temples,  and  a  still  larger  number  of 
small  meeting-houses.  Several  of  the  synagogues 
are  specially  worthy  of  notice.  That  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Lexington  Avenue  and  Fifty-fifth  Street 
is  a  fine  example  of  thc(ireek  Byzantine,  and  its 
massive  proportions  and  strangely-shaped  tow  ers 
attract  the  eye  with  a  sense  of  keen  curiosity. 
This  temple  is  of  great  size,  and  was  for  a  long 
time  the  most  important  of  the  Jewish  places  of 
worship  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

But  a  still  more  noble  edifice  is  the  Temple 
Emanuel,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Fifth  Ave- 
I  nue  and  Forty-third  Street.   It  is  regarded  as  the 
j  noblest  specimen  of  the  Saracenic  architecture  in 
j  America,  and  it  is  one  of  the  costliest  churches 
in  New  York.    It  is  built  of  brown  and  yellow 
sandstone,  with  the  roof  of  alternate  lines  of  red 
and  black  tiles.    The  center  of  the  facade  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  containing  the  main  entrance,  is 
flanked  by  two  minarets  finely  carved  in  open- 
work.    There  are  five  doors  leading  into  the 
vestibule,  from  which  the  interior  is  reached. 
Inside  the  temple  the  eye  is  dazzled  by  a  rich 
profusion  of  Oriental  decoration  and  coloring. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Madison  Avenue  and  Forty-second  Street, 
is  a  richly-decorated  building  in  the  style  of  the 
Renaissance,  one  striking  characteristic  being 
the  effect  produced  by  party-colored  stones  in 
the  walls  and  the  variegated  tile-roofing.  The 
edifice  is  a  large  one,  and  the  congregation,  of 
which  young  Dr.  Stephen  H.  Tyng  (as  he  is  often 
called,  to  distinguish  him  from  his  lately  deceased 


CHURCHES. 


77 


father)  was  for  many  years  the  rector,  one  of 
the  most  aristocratic  in  New  York.  Two  Mocks 
above,  on  the  opposite  side  of  Madison  Avenue, 
the  severe  lines  of  St.  Bartholomew,  marked  by 
its  chaste  and  noble  style  and  its  fine  Saracenic 
tower,  arrest  the  attention. 

At  the  corner  of  Fifty-third  Street  and  Fifth 


ing.  A  large  cross  rises  directly  above  the  bish- 
op's chair,  and  on  either  side,  arranged  in  four 
rows,  are  kneeling  angels,  who  adore  the  sacred 
symbol.  A  large  crown  is  suspended  above  this 
cross,  and  beneath  it  is  a  row  of  cherubic  heads. 
The  whole  is  inclosed  between  two  rich  pilasters, 
designed  and  in  great  part  executed  by  Mr.  La 


terior  of  which  is  very  remarkable  in  the 
style  of  its  ornamentation,  and  specially 
deserving  of  a  visit ;  and  at  the  corner  of 
Fifty-fifth  Street  is  the  fine  church  the  pas- 
tor of  which  is  the  famous  and  eloquent 
Dr.  Hall,  who  ranks  foremost  among  the 
Presbyterian  divines  of  the  land.  The  lat- 
ter church  is  a  simple  adaptation  of  the 
French  Gothic,  and  the  material  is  of 
brown-stone.  The  tower  is  the  loftiest  in 
the  city,  and  the  church  is  regarded  as  one 
of  the  finest  specimens  of  ecclesiastical  art, 
both  in  its  exterior  and  interior  in  New 
York.  The  power  of  the  preacher  attracts 
great  audiences  every  Sunday. 

St.  Thomas's  Church  is  also  of  brown- 
stone,  and  its  style  of  architecture  is  mixed, 
the  Early  English  predominating.  A  few 
words  of  special  description  are  due  to 
the  remarkable  interior  decoration  of  this 
church,  executed  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  John  La  Farge,  the  artist.  With  the 
exception  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  it  is 
the  only  attempt  of  the  kind  yet  made  in 
America,  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  in- 
terior church  decoration  as  seen  in  Eu- 
rope. This  unique  and  beautiful  work  was 
prompted  by  the  wish  of  Mr.  Housman,  a 
member  of  the  parish,  to  commemorate 
the  name  of  his  mother.  The  form  of  the 
choir  is  seven-sided,  five  of  which  are  be- 
ing decorated  under  Mr.  La  Farge's  design, 
the  sculptured  portion  of  the  work  being 
due  to  Mr.  A.  St.  Gaudens.  The  general 
design  is  a  sculptured  adoration  of  the 
cross  by  the  angels,  with  paintings  on  each 
side  representing  scenes  in  the  life  of  Cbrist 
immediately  following  the  resurrection. 

A  description  of  one  of  these  pictures 
will  give  the  reader  a  conception  of  the 
whole.  The  tomb  is  represented  on  the  left,  with 
the  angel  sitting  on  it,  and  the  sleeping  guards 
at  the  side,  while  at  the  right  Mary  Magdalene 
throws  herself  at  the  feet  of  the  Saviour.  It  has 
many  features  of  beauty  and  picturesqueness,  the 
composition  is  full  of  dignity  and  repose,  and  the 
landscape  is  charming  in  its  suggestion  of  early 
dawn.  The  sculptured  portion  is  fully  as  interest- 


Temple  Emanuel,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-third  Street. 


Farge  himself.  The  sculptured  work  is  fine  in 
its  spirit  of  joy  and  cheer,  and  suggests  the 
early  Italian  art,  though  in  no  sense  can  it  be 
called  a  slavish  imitation.  Mr.  St.  Gaudens,  in 
his  style  and  method,  has  returned  to  the  model 
of  the  early  Italian  Renaissance,  so  inimitable  in 
its  commingling  of  intellectual  penetration  with 
deep  religious  feeling.    This  is  specially  seen  in 


7S 


\K\\   TORE  [LLU8TRATED. 


the  jubilant  fullness  of  expression  with  which  in  h is  garden,  stood  until  rorontlj  at  tho  comet 
the  angels  bow  and  bend  before  the  symbol  that  of  Thirteenth  Street  and  Third  Avenue.  On  tin- 
unites  heaven  and  earth  in  healthy  happiness,  as    site  of  the  present  St.  Mark's  Church,  Governor 


birds  soaring  and  singing  to  greet  tho  rising  sun. 
This  work  in  its  entirety  may  be  looked  on  as 


Stuyvesant  built  a  chapel  at  his  own  expense, 
and  dedicated  it  to  the  service  of  God  according 


the  pioneer  of  a  new  departure  in  a  beautiful  to  the  ritual  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  At 
school  of  ecclesiastical  art,  and  it  will  probably  his  death  he  was  buried  in  the  vault  within  the 
manifest  itself  more  fully  in  the  future.  One  chapel,  and  over  his  remains  was  placed  a  slab 
great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  such  decorations  |  which  may  still  be  seen  in  the  eastern  wall  of 


comes  from  the  ignorance  of  church  com- 
mittees as  to  the  nature  of  the  artist's 
work  and  the  condition  under  which  it 
is  produced.  Properly  there  can  be  tlO 
business  relations  between  the  artist  and 
the  business-man  other  than  that  the 
artist  shall  do  his  work  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  and  that  the  bnsiness-nULD  shall 
pay  promptly  and  generously  a  hen  it  is 
done,  and  leave  him  untrammeled 
while  he  is  doing  It. 

Let  us  now  cross  to  the  east  side 
of  New  York,  to  the  old  Bbwerie 
farm  of  Governor  Stuyvesant.  one  of 


T 


iiiiRi 


Sr.  Mark's,  with  the  following  inscrip- 
tion :  u  In  thU  vault  lies  buried  Pimm  - 
Sti  vvksa.nt,  late  Captain-Goneral  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  Amsterdam,  in 

New  Netherlands,  now  called  New  York, 
and  the  Hutch  West  India  Islands.  I)jed 
in  August,  a.  i).  1  <*.*•_>,  aged  eighty  years.'' 
Other  tablets  and  curious  monuments  of 
the  past  are  to  be  found  in  this  (plaint 
old  building.    When  the  first  build- 
ing properly   known   as  St.  Mark's 
Church    was    erected,    the  locality, 
which  is  now  in  the  heart  of  tho 
older  part  of  the  city,  was  one  of 


St.  Thomas's  Church,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-third  Street. 


the  famous  rulers  of  the  New  Netherlands. 
Here,  the  old  chronicles  tell  us,  "he  enjoyed  the 
repose  of  agricultural  pursuits  within  the  sight 
of  the  smoke  of  the  city,  which  curled  above  the 
tree-tops."  His  house  was  built  of  small  yellow 
brick,  imported  from  Holland,  and  stood  near 
the  present  St.  Mark's  Church,  on  Second  Ave- 
nue near  East  Tenth  Street.  A  fine  brick  build- 
ing now  covers  the  spot.  A  pear-tree,  imported 
from  Holland  by  Stuyvesant  in  1647,  and  planted 


I  green  fields,  and  for  a  long  time  "St.  Mark's  in 
the  fields  "  was  the  recognized  suburban  PrOtes- 
tant  Episcopal  place  of  worship.  St.  Mark's  is 
still  attended  by  many  old  and  aristocratic  fam- 
ilies, for  it  shares  with  Trinity  and  St.  Paul's  the 
dignity  of  age  and  historical  association. 

Among  the  noticeable  churches  to  which  at- 
tention should  be  called  is  St.  George's,  situ- 
j  ated  on  the  corner  of  East  Sixteenth  Street  and 
|  Rutherford  Place.    This  edifice  is  said  to  be 


CHURCHES. 


79 


capable  of  holding  a  larger  congregation  than 
any  other  ecclesiastical  structure  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  It  is  built  of  solid  brown-stone, 
and,  with  its  two  lofty  towers  looking  to  the 
east,  and  immense  depth  and  height  of  wall, 
is  certainly  entitled  to  the  first  rank  among 
the  religious  edifices  of  America.  It  was 
erected  in  1849 ;  but  the  interior  was  com- 
pletely destroyed  by  fire  on  the  14th  of 
November,  1865.  The  refitting  of  the  build- 
ing was  immediately  entered  upon,  and  it  is 
now  one  of  the 
handsomest 

in  the  coun-  "  -  _      -  -  - 

try.  Theinte-   "       ~  ~~- 

rior   is  very 

striking  in  its  ■  -  - 

polychromatic 
designs,  and 

the  ceiling  of  J 
the  roof  is  a  , 
"thing  of 
beauty  "  well 
worth  seeing. 
The  chancel  is 
one  of  the 
handsomest  in 
the  city.  The 
adjoining  rec- 
tory and  the 
chapel  on  Six- 
teenth Street 
are  architect- 
u  rally  and 
otherwise  in 
keeping  with 
the  noble  edi- 
fice of  which 
they  are  a  part. 

Another 
quaint  and 
charming 
church  is  that 
in  Twenty- 
ninth  Street 
near  Fifth 
Avenue,  the 
Church  of  the 
Transfigura- 
tion, popular- 
ly known  as 

the  "  Little  Church  around  the  Corner,"  a 
name  bestowed  on  it  by  a  neighboring  clergy- 
man, who,  refusing  to  bury  an  actor  from  his 
own  church,  referred  the  applicant  to  this  one. 
It  is  rather  interesting  from  its  old-fashioned 


Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-fifth  Street. 


irregularity  and  air  of  seclusion,  than  from  any 
architectural  pretensions.    Half  hidden  in  a  quiet 
little  park  of  its  own,  it  reminds  one  of  a  coun- 
try church,  and  this  aspect  in  the  heart  of  a 
great  city  strikes  the  imagination  pleasantly. 
The  church  is  Gothic  in  the  form  of  a  Latin 
Cross,  and  contains  a  number  of  memorial 
windows,  among  them  being  one  dedicated 
to  the  memory  of  the  late  H.  J.  Montague 
the  actor.    Owing  to  the  incident  which 
gave  the  church  its  popular  name,  almost  all 

members  of 
— -----  the  theatrical 

^iziEHrr. — ■  profession, 
^^n~  who  die  in 

I  ~— ^^^-Cl^  or  near  New 

C  ~  ^        .    7  ^r;^;         York,  are  bur- 

ied from  there. 

Such  are  a 
few  of  the 
more  striking 
and  character- 
istic churches 
of  New  York, 
a  city  pecul- 
iarly rich  in 
such  edifices, 
though  the 
sister  city  of 
Brooklyn  is  a 
rival,  for  the 
latter  place  is 
well  called 
"  The  City  of 
Churches." 

As  has  be- 
fore been  re- 
marked, the 
city  is  not  dis- 
tinguished by  a 
predominance 
of  pure  archi- 
tectural form 
in  ecclesiasti- 
cal style.  For 
instance,  there 
are  but  two 
or  three  ex- 
amples of  pure 
Gothic,  and 
none,  so  far  as 

we  know,  of  pure  Norman.  But  the  somewhat 
composite  character  of  our  church  architecture, 
if  it  offends  the  art-purist,  is  perhaps  more  pleas- 
ing to  the  general  eye;  and  it  is  only  just  to 
state  that  the  blending  of  different  styles  has 


80 


NKW    YORK  ILU'STKATKI). 


St.  George's  Church,  co'ne:  of  Sixteenth  Street  and  Rutherford  Place. 


been  for  the  most  part  accomplished  with  great 
good  taste  and  sense  of  harmony.  Most  of  the  fine 
churches  of  New  York,  too,  do  not  oifend  by  that 
elaborate  ornateness  of  decoration  into  which  the 
architect  is  tempted,  when  he  seeks  to  combine 
the  elements  of  various  styles  in  his  design.  Of 


course,  the  city  can  not  claim  for  itself  such 
magnificent  creations  of  the  builder's  art  as  may 
be  found  in  many  of  the  principal  European 
capitate.  These  were  products  of  an  immense 
religious  and  art  fervor  such  as  is  not  likely  to 
occur  again. 


Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  Twenty-ninth  Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue. 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


81 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


A TOUR  around  the  water-front  is  full  of 
charm ;  the  scenes  and  incidents  have  no 
common  fascination.  In  its  course  we  can  muse 
away  hours,  dream  ourselves  into  the  tropics  or 
the  farthest  north,  and  awaken  to  a  remembrance 
of  the  great  extent  and  variety  of  our  sea- 
hoard  commerce.  A  myriad  of  small  craft,  pro- 
pelled by  steam  and  sail,  flecks  the  stream.  A 
6 


Scene  on  the  North  River. 

fleet  of  grander  vessels  towers  almost  over  our 
heads  on  the  rising  tide,  in  their  berths.  The 
wealth  they  contain  and  the  adventures  they 
suggest  invest  them,  as  we  have  said,  with  no 
small  measure  of  poetic  interest.  They  are 
like  a  glorious  army  of  pilgrims  gathered  in  a 
central  port  from  the  shrines  of  every  nation 
— gathered  with  peace-offerings  and  treasure 
after  trials  and  victorious  conquest. 

We  see  nothing  on  the  New  York  water- 
front like  the  great  wharves  and  docks  which 
make  the  maritime  accommodations  of  Lon- 
don and  Liverpool  so  marvelous.  The  latter, 
indeed,  may  almost  be  included  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world,  so  extensive  and  com- 
modious are  they.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the 
depth  of  the  water  does  not  prescribe  such 
radical  and  extensive  improvements  as  were 
made  in  the  two  great  English  cities,  but  none 
the  less  true  is  it  that  there  has  long  been  felt 
a  need  of  reconstruction.  Various  plans  have 
been  suggested  and  experiments  made,  which 


82 


N'KW   YORK   ILIJ'STIi  A'I'KI). 


will  be  described  further  on,  but  they  have-  not 
so  far  proved  wholly  satisfactory. 

The  architecture  of  the  wharves,  and  the 
buildings  on  them,  may  be  deemed  inadequate 
commercially,  but  its  irregularity,  perhaps  it- 
very  poverty,  -rives  it  an  artistic  value  which  we 
should  be  sorry  to  miss.  The  ancient  battalions 
of  sail-lofts,  ship-chandleries  and  stores,  with 
swinging  sign-boards,  have  more  or  less  a  nau- 
tical aspect,  and  will,  no  doubt,  recall  to  many 
some  dear  old  port  of  their  youth.  There  may 
be  those,  indeed,  who  will  regret  the  time  when 
these  weather-beaten  structures  are  swept  away, 
ami  supplanted  by  others  more  commodious,  but 
not  more  interesting. 

Inadequate  and  unsatisfactory  as  are  the  ex- 
isting wharves,  the  trade  they  accommodate  will 
astound  the  reader  who  is  unversed  in  commer- 
cial statistics.  The  number  of  entrances  of  sail- 
ing-vessels engaged  in  foreign  trade  for  lssn 
was  5,775,  with  a  tonnage  of  2,917,741  tons;  and 
the  number  of  entrances  of  steamers  the  same 
year  was  1,820,  with  a  tonnage  of  4,604,652  tons. 
The  number  of  clearances  for  the  same  year  (for- 
eign trade)  was  5,0n4  sailing-vessels,  with  a  ton- 
nag*  of  2,951,341)  tons,  and  1,833  steamers,  with 
a  tonnage  of  4,023,205  tons.  Referring  to  the 
coastwise  trade,  we  rind  entrances  and  clearances 
of  3,370  sailing-vessels,  and  of  3,018  steamers, 
with  an  aggregate  of  4,588,054  tons.  This  shows 
an  aggregate  of  21,492  vessels,  but,  as  each  vessel 
is  included  both  in  the  clearances  and  entrances, 
we  must  estimate  one  half  of  the  number,  or  10,- 
740  vessels,  as  entering  and  clearing  New  York 
Harbor  in  the  course  of  the  last  year.  The  ton- 
nage of  New  York  fell  off  very  materially  during 
the  war,  and  since  that  time  a  large  part  of  the 
business  which  was  formerly  done  in  American 
ships  has  been  transferred  to  foreign  bottoms,  a 
drawback  from  which  we  have  very  recently  com- 
menced to  recover.  In  spite  of  this,  however, 
the  immense  increase  in  trade  and  the  demand 
for  ocean-carriage  has  more  than  counterbalanced 
the  difference,  showing  a  gratifying  exhibit  in 
spite  of  the  "  hard  times,"  from  which  commerce 
has  been  suffering.  When  the  reader  crosses 
one  of  the  ferries,  and  views  the  fringe  of  ship- 
ping, he  will  have  occasion  for  reflection  and 
wonder,  if  he  bears  the  above  figures  in  mind. 

We  may  choose  any  hour  for  a  ramble  along 
the  wharves,  but  the  best  is  in  the  morning,  for 
then  we  can  see  Commerce  arouse  from  its  heavy 
slumbers,  and,  limb  by  limb,  unfold  and  apply 
itself  to  the  great  crank  that  grinds  out  the  na- 
tion's destiny.  It  is,  indeed,  well  worth  while 
to  watch  the  soft  shades  of  morning  breaking 


over  Corlear's  Hook,  and  bringing  into  clearer 
relief  the  entangled  masts  and  rigging  that  are 
woven  against  the  receding  night-clouds;  well 
worth  while  to  watch  the  gradual  change  from 
night  to  morning,  from  a  desert-like  stillness  to 
a  fretful  roar ;  to  watch  the  moonbeams  driven 
from  their  nooks  in  the  silent  warehouses,  as 
shutters  are  thrust  aside,  doors  opened,  and  liv- 
ing streams  pour  through  every  adjacent  street  to 
the  water-front.  The  river,  smoothly  lapping  th. 
piers  in  darkness,  breaks  into  a  surfy  tumult,  as  it 
is  beaten  and  crossed  by  paddle  and  oar.  Each 
stone  gives  forth  a  rattle,  and  the  inanimate  as 
well  as  the  animate  unreins  a  restless  tongue, 
(iangways  are  opened  to  th.-  grand  old  clippers, 
and  companies  of  broad-shouldered,  labor-marked 
men  trot  from  deck  to  wharf,  with  baskets  and 
barrow  s.  The  night-watchmen  shuffle  homeward 
to  breakfast,  with  a  few  others  who  have  been 
busy  during  the  night,  loading  and  unloading 
ocean  -  steamships.  Again  appear  the  thic  k- 
wheeled  drays,  drawn  by  powerful  horses,  and 
laden  with  tons  of  valuable  merchandise.  From 
the  masses  that  throng  the  river->treet,  one 
would  think  that  the  whole  population  of  the 
city  had  business  to  do  by  the  water-front,  each 
individual  actuated  by  a  different  purpose  and 
destiny.  The  elements  contend  and  bustle  ;  yet 
we  see  that  they  are  systematic,  and  that  each 
man's  share  of  the  work  helps  to  give  the  big 
wheel  a  turn. 

In  making  a  brief  >tudy  of  the  extended  water- 
front of  New  York  and  its  varied,  picturesque 
associations,  let  us  begin  at  the  Battery,  at  the 
extreme  southern  end  of  the  city,  and  stroll  as 
fancy  dictates,  for  nowhere  can  the  sight-seer  go 
amiss  if  he  has  a  quick  eye  and  a  little  imagi- 
nation in  finding  continual  food  for  interesting 
thought. 

As  one  looks  down  the  shining  bay  from 
the  Battery,  the  scene  is  one  which  impresses 
itself  on  the  imagination  beyond  the  possibility 
of  forgetting.  The  crowded  shipping  going  and 
coming,  steamers  being  slowly  drawn  by  puffing 
tugs,  stately  ships  preparing  for  their  long  voy- 
ages, fishing  and  oyster  boats,  yachts,  men-of- 
war,  small  sail-boats,  etc.,  make  up  a  scene  ani- 
mated in  the  extreme.  The  bright  waters  shin- 
ing with  sunbeams  seem  to  be  fairly  alive,  as 
they  dance  along  the  surface  of  the  bay ;  and  the 
islands  in  the  harbor,  with  their  glimpses  of 
greenery  lifting  above  the  swift  tides,  add  to  the 
variety  and  attraction  of  the  outlook.  The  im- 
agination conjures  up  visions  of  these  outgoing 
and  incoming  vessels,  which  bind  New  York 
with  all  parts  of  the  world,  floating  over  tropical 


84 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


seas,  or  battling  with  the  savage  fury  of  wind 
and  wave  thousands  of  miles  away,  until  the 
prosaic  and  bustling  present  sinks  out  of  sight, 
and  one  realizes  the  Infinite  labor,  suffering,  and 
patience,  the  tax  laid  on  human  bravery,  endur- 
ance, and  skill,  to  carry  on  the  intricate  relations 
of  commerce.  The  Battery  is  always  fringed 
with  sight-seers  and  loungers,  who  appear  to  gaze 
on  the  brilliant  scene  with  constant  delight;  for 
nowhere  in  New  York  is  there  more  to  fill  the 
eye  and  stimulate  the  fancy. 

At  the  Battery  is  Castle  Garden,  now  used 
as  an  immigrant  depot,  where  those  who  come 
from  the  Old  to  seek  homes  in  the  New  World 


'  first  find  a  resting-place,  and  receive  their  ear- 
liest impression  of  their  new  country.  Castle 
Garden  is  an  historic  spot,  having  been  originally 
a  fort  and  afterward  a  -uiiim.-r  garden,  wli.-nce  it 

I  derives  its  now  not  very  appropriate  name.  It 
was  once  used  for  civic  and  military  displays  and 
receptions,  and  it  was  here  that  Lafayette  re- 
ceived the  honor  of  a  grand  ball  in  1824,  when 

|  he  revisited  the  country  to  which  he  had  so  gal- 
lantly given  his  military  services.  Other  cele- 
brated men  also  received  public  reception-  on 
this  historic  spot.  It  was  here  also  that  Jenny 
Lind  made  her  first  appearance  under  P.  T.  Bar- 
man's management,  and  sang  before  the  most 


Landing-Steps,  west  of  the  Battery 


brilliant  and  numerous  audiences  which  ever  ap- 
plauded the  notes  of  a  singer  in  America. 

By-and-by,  as  tbe  town  grew  far  away  from 
this  region,  Castle  Garden  was  given  up  as  a 
place  of  resort,  and  converted  in  1855  to  the  use 
of  immigrants  by  tbe*  erection  of  suitable  accom- 
modations. The  European  steamers,  which  bring 
these  tides  of  living  freight,  land  them  at  this 
spot,  where  they  receive  food  and  shelter  till 
such  time  as  they  are  ready  to  start  for  their 
destinations.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Garden 
was  infested  with  immigrant-runners,  who  preyed 
on  the  ignorant  and  timid  strangers,  for  the  most 
part  unable  to  speak  any  English,  without  mercy. 
But  this  has  now  been  suppressed,  and  the  poor 


foreigner  is  fed.  protected,  sheltered,  and  trans- 
ported with  his  worldly  goods  to  the  station, 
j  when  he  departs  for  the  land  of  milk  and  honey 
\  which  he  hopes  to  find.  At  times  there  are  not 
less  than  a  thousand  immigrants  sheltered  here, 
and  it  is  a  most  interesting  and  suggestive  spec- 
tacle. 

Here  one  may  see  all  manner  of  strange  garbs 
from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  hear  a  babel  of 
polyglot  sounds,  as  the  newly-arrived  aspirants 
for  American  citizenship  with  their  wives  and 
babies,  spend  a  few  brief  days,  preparing  for  de- 
parture. A  fortnight  hence  they  will  have  been 
scattered  from  Minnesota  to  Texas,  from  Maine 
j  to  the  Golden  Gate  of  the  Pacific,  and  fairly  em- 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


85 


North  River  Flotilla. 


barked  on  the  life  which  is  to  assimilate  them 
with  the  wonderful  facts  and  forces  of  the  great 
republic  of  the  West. 

The  system  of  caring  for  the  immigrants  is 
simple,  but  thorough  and  satisfactory.  After 
examination  of  their  luggage  on  shipboard  by 
the  customs  officers,  the  immigrants  are  trans- 
ferred to  this  landing  depot,  where  they  are  re- 
ceived by  officers  of  the  Commission,  who  enter 
in  registers  kept  for  the  purpose  all  necessary 
particulars  for  their  future  identification.  The 
names  of  such  as  have  money,  letters,  or  friends 
awaiting  them,  are  called  out,  and  they  are  put 
into  immediate  possession  of  their  property,  or 
committed  to  their  friends,  whose  credentials 
have  first  been  properly  scrutinized.  Such  as 
desire  can  find  clerks  at  hand  to  write  letters  for 
them  in  any  European  language,  and  a  telegraph 
operator  within  the  depot  to  forward  dispatches. 
Here,  also,  the  main  trunk  lines  of  railway  have 


offices,  at  which  the  immigrant  can  buy  tickets 
and  have  his  luggage  weighed  and  checked ; 
brokers  are  admitted  (under  restrictions  which 
make  fraud  impossible)  to  exchange  the  foreign 
coin  or  paper  of  immigrants ;  a  restaurant  sup- 
plies them  with  plain  food  at  moderate  prices  ;  a 
physician  is  in  attendance  for  the  sick ;  a  tem- 
porary hospital  is  ready  to  receive  them  until 
they  can  be  conveyed  to  Ward's  Island;  and 
those  in  search  of  employment  are  furnished  it 
at  the  labor  bureau  connected  with  the  estab- 
lishment. Such  as  desire  to  start  at  once  are  sent 
to  the  railway  or  steamboat,  while  those  who 
prefer  to  remain  in  the  city  are  referred  to  board- 
ing-house keepers  whose  charges  are  regulated 
by,  and  houses  kept  under  the  supervision  of,  the 
Commissioners.  The  old  scandals  and  abuses 
have  long  since  disappeared  under  the  new 
method. 

If  picturesqueness  were  the  only  thing  de- 


Ferry- Boat  at  Night. 


so 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED, 


sirable  in  the  water-front  of  a  great  seaport) 
that  of  New  York  would  he  everything  needful, 
hut  the  picturesque  is  oftentimes  opposed  to  the 
convenient;  and,  as  one  looks  on  the  dilapidated 
old  piers,  narrow  streets,  and  tumble-down  rook- 
eries of  warehouses,  their  insufficiency  becomes 
plain.  For  many  years  the  commercial  inter* ->t> 
of  the  city  have  suffered  from  bad  wharfage, 


but  there  baa  been  a  beginning  of  batter  things, 
and  suitable  piers  are  now  in  prooaM  of  erection. 

The  total  available  water  frontage  of  New 
York,  not  counting  the  New  .K-rsey  and  Long 
Island  shores,  which  are  equally  devoted  to  the 
accommodation  of  the  shipping  interest  of  the 
city,  is  twenty-four  ami  three  fourth-  mile*. 

41  It  isevident,'1  General McClellan  wrote  when 


An  Ocean-Steamer  in  Dock. 


Engineer  of  the  Dock  Department,  "that  we  need  cheap  and  rapid  handling  of  vessels  and  their 
not  resort  to  the  English  system  of  inclosed  docks,  cargoes.'1  The  plans  proposed  by  General  Mc- 
The  arrangement  best  suited  to  our  wants  is  a  Clellan,  approved  by  the  Dock  Commissioners, 
continuous  river-wall,  so  located  as  to  widen  the  !  and  now  being  carried  out  with  certain  mod- 
river-street  very  considerably,  with  ample  covered  ifications,  are  as  follows:  1.  A  permanent  river- 
piers  projecting  from  it.  This  is  the  simplest,  wall  of  beton  and  masonry,  or  masonry  alone, 
most  convenient,  and  by  far  the  most  economical  so  far  outside  the  existing  wharf-line  as  to  give 
system  that  can  be  suggested.  It  will  bring  into  a  river-street  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide 
play  all  the  extraordinary  natural  advantages  of  along  the  North  River,  two  hundred  feet  wide 
the  port,  and  will  give  every  facility  for  the  I  along  the  East  River,  from  the  southern  extrem- 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


87 


ity  of  the  city  to  Thirty-first  Street,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  feet  wide  along  both  streets 
above  that  point.  2.  A  series  of  piers  projecting 
from  the  river-wall,  of  ample  dimensions  and 
adequate  construction,  which  will  allow  an  un- 
obstructed passage  of  the  water.  3.  The  erec- 
tion of  sheds  over  these  piers  suitable  to  the  re- 
quirements of  the  vessels  using  them.  The  same 
distinguished  engineer  says:  "I  have  no  doubt 
as  to  the  immediate  necessity  of  widening  the 
river  -  streets  and  build'ing  a  permanent  river- 
wall  ;  but  I  think  it  sound  policy  to  content  our- 


selves with  piers  of  a  cheap  material,  leaving  for 
other  generations  richer  than  ours  the  construc- 
tion of  more  permanent  structures."  It  is  a  fasci- 
nating thought  for  the  lover  of  New  York  and 
its  greatness  to  look  forward  to  the  time  when 
crazy  old  jetties  and  sheds  and  worm-eaten 

|  wooden  docks  shall  be  demolished ;  when  firm 
granite  or  concrete  piers,  extending  from  a  broad 

|  river-street  belting  the  city  in  its  embrace,  shall 
give  complete  accommodation  to  the  shipping 

j  and  commerce  of  the  world ;  when  capacious  and 

|  well-built  warehouses  fronting  these  splendid 


An  Ocean-Steamer  outward  bound. 


docks  shall  receive  the  products  of  every  clime,  a  lumbering  and  dilapidated  steamer,  which  has 
"but  this  fruition  it  is  to  be  feared  is  not  to  be  survived  its  gala-days,  wiien  gayly  decorated  with 
looked  for  in  our  generation,  unless  some  change  bunting  it  pursued  its  stately  track  up  and  down 
is  made  in  the  system  under  which  our  city  af-  the  river  laden  with  passengers.  The  vessels 
fairs  are  administered.  which  vary  the  aspect  of  the  North  River  front 

Both  day  and  night  the  New  York  waters  are  highly  miscellaneous  in  their  composition, 
present  a  most  animated  and  pleasing  sight.  It  Survivals  of  those  ancient  crafts  which,  a  hun- 
is  a  characteristic  and  frequent  thing  to  see  in  dred  years  ago,  did  most  of  the  internal  and  coast- 
the  North  River  a  long  line  of  canal  boats  towed  ;  wise  commerce  of  the  port,  sloops  and  schooners 
by  tug  or  steamer  on  their  way  from  the  Erie  '  of  antiquated  cut,  may  still  be  seen  crawling  over 
Canal.  These  flotillas  give  a  curious  character  |  the  waters.  These  Rip  Van  "Winkle  vessels  which 
to  the  appearance  of  the  river,  and  play  a  very  lazily  serve  the  local  needs  of  many  of  the  Hud- 
important  part  in  the  commerce  of  the  port.  :  son  River  and  New  Jersey  towns  and  villages, 
One  may  also  see  a  little  fleet  of  barges  towed  by  j  with  their  battered  hulls  and  patched  sails,  to  the 


ss 


\i:\v  YORK  [LLU8TRATED. 


North  River  Oyster-Boat 


artist  eye  are  more  picturesque  than  even  the 
trim  clipper,  with  her  beautiful  lines  and  taper- 
ing spars.  They  are  the  links  between  the  past 
and  the  present,  and  their  old-fashioned  aspect 
carries  one  back  to  the  times  when  steam  was 
unknown,  and  the  age  was  leisurely,  easy-going, 
simple-minded,  and  easily  contented. 

As  we  have  said,  the  vessels  which  lie  in  the 
harbor  are  of  all  kinds  and  descriptions.  Among 
these  may  be  seen  often,  specially  in  the  late 
spring,  just  before  the  cruising  season  begins, 
many  beautiful  yachts.  The  yacht  among  boats 
may  be  likened  to  the  fashionable  fine  lady, 
polished,  dainty,  symmetrical,  with  an  air  of 
grace  and  distinction  not  to  be  mistaken.  This 
airy  creation  of  the  ship-builder's  adze  and  ham- 
mer carries  with  it  the  most  delightful  association 
of  sea  and  air,  the  union  of  the  highest  luxury  of 
civilization  with  the  primitive  delight  in  the  rich 
heritage  of  the  blue  sky,  exhilarating  breezes, 
and  the  glancing  waters.  Yachting  as  carried  on 
in  New  York  costs  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  it 
is  as  much  the  favorite  amusement  of  the  wealthy 
as  the  ownership  of  fine  horses.  Twelve  yacht- 
clubs  have  their  headquarters  in  or  near  New 
York,  the  most  important  being  known  as  the 
New  York  Club,  which  has  a  total  tonnage  ot 
about  five  thousand  tons,  and  an  estimated  valua- 
tion of  vessels  amounting  to  three  million  dollars. 

Gliding  in  and  out  among  these  beautifully 
shaped  crafts,  with  their  graceful  lines  and  taper- 


ing spars,  may  be  seen  the  sturdy  and  democratic 
little  tugs,  full  of  compart  grit  and  energy,  which 
puff  along,  towing,  perhaps,  several  vessels  twenty 
times  their  size,  with  an  air  of  ease  which  aston- 
ishes one's  mind,  and  conveys  a  sense  of  com- 
pressed power  not  surpassed  by  one's  notion  of 
a  British  bull-dog  or  a  can  of  nitro-glycerine, 
though  in  this  case  it  is  force  conservative  and 
useful,  not  destructive.  The  waters  of  such  a 
great  harbor  are  full  of  surprises  and  contrasts 
of  form  and  function,  and  the  philosopher  finds 
no  end  of  food  for  his  humor  and  fancy  as  well 
as  his  edification  in  the  survey  thereof.  We  be- 
hold the  river-surface  plowed  by  every  kind  of 
vessel.  Squat  ferry-boats,  like  enormous  turtles, 
black  with  passengers;  splendid  steamboats,  with 
tier  on  tier  of  staterooms  ;  capacious  barges;  row- 
boats,  dancing  along  like  cockle-shells  ;  solid  and 
queer-looking  dredging-machines  and  pile-driv- 
ers; dingy  sloops  and  schooners — all  dodge  each 
other  in  this  moving  pageant  of  the  broad 
stream,  which  is  more  like  an  arm  of  the  sea 
than  an  ordinary  river,  in  its  suggestion  to  the 
mind. 

When  the  shadows  of  night  settle  down  over 
the  waters  of  New  York,  the  scene  is  no  less 
picturesque.  Lights  flash  far  and  wide  over  the 
faintly-gleaming  surface  of  river  and  bay,  and 
hoarse,  far-distant  cries  echo  along  the  wharves 
and  from  ship  to  ship,  showing  the  presence  of  life, 
quiescent,  but  not  entirely  asleep.    From  time  to 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


89 


time  the  white  sails  of  ships  glide  by  like  giant 
specters,  while  on  the  opposite  shores  gleam  the 
street-lamps  of  sister  cities  like  an  army  of  fire- 
flies. When  a  heavy  fog  settles  on  the  river, 
wiping  out  as  with  a  sponge  the  distant  lights, 
there  is  something  weird  and  oppressive  in  the 
scene.  Darkness  shrouds  the  outlook. but  through 
the  thick,  black  air  the  shrill  shrieking  of  the 
steam-whistles  keeps  up  an  incessent  cacophony. 
Suddenly  there  shoots  out  of  the  gloom  a  great 
eyeball  of  light,  which  is  speedily  multiplied  into 
many  as  the  ferry-boat  nears  the  landing.  So 
great  are  the  skill  and  care  of  the  pilots  of  the 
ferry-boats,  that  collisions  rarely  occur  even  on 
the  most  foggy  nights,  which,  in  view  of  the  great 
number  and  constant  running  of  these  transit- 
boats,  is  a  matter  of  marvel. 

It  is  along  the  wharves  at  night,  particularly 
on  very  dark  and  foggy  nights,  that  the  river- 
thieves  find  their  sphere  of  operations.  The 
riches  lying  along  the  wharves  tempt  theft,  and 
organized  bands  of  these  criminals  ply  a  lucrative 
business  in  miscellaneous  stealing  of  everything 
not  under  the  closest  watch.  They  often,  too, 
indulge  in  broad  acts  of  piracy,  boarding  vessels, 
gagging  the  crew,  and  not  unseldom  committing 
murder.  Some  of  their  outrages  are  of  the  most 
audacious  character,  for  these  bands  contain 
many  of  the  most  reckless  and  daring  scoundrels 
hatched  out  of  the  rotten  compost  of  our  civili- 
zation.   A  special  corps  of  river-police  patrols 


the  waters  in  a  small  steamer  on  the  outlook  for 
these  daring  ruffians,  and  watching  with  suspi- 
cious eyes  all  the  small  craft  and  row-boats  that 
ply  along  the  shores,  for  what  to  untrained  eyes 
would  be  a  mere  pleasure-boat,  might  contain  a 
crew  of  these  bold  pirates.  The  strongholds  of 
these  thieves  shift  from  time  to  time  to  elude  the 
watchful  guardians  of  the  public  peace  and  prop- 
erty, now  being  in  some  hut  on  a  quiet  sand- 
beach  down  the  bay,  now  under  one  of  the  un- 
frequented piers  far  up  town.  A  spot  which 
has  been  specially  noted  in  police  annals  for  the 
operations  of  these  rascals,  than  whom  there  are 
none  more  bold  and  cunning  in  New  York,  is 
Corlear's  Hook,  which  is  at  the  bend  of  the  East 
River,  just  below  Grand  Street,  and  opposite 
the  Brooklyn  Navy-Yard.  Large  machine-shops 
and  storage  warehouses  make  this  part  of  the 
New  York  water-front  almost  deserted  at  night, 
and  afford  the  thieves  ample  chance  to  sally  out 
and  return  with  their  booty  unobserved,  while 
squalid  rookeries  and  tenements  near  at  hand 
furnish  places  of  convenient  concealment. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  part  of  the  water-front  of 
the  city  more  attractive  than  those  quays  and 
streets  on  the  North  River  where  we  almost  pass 
under  the  bowsprits  of  the  immense  ocean-steam- 
ships of  the  Pacific  Mail  Company,  the  Inman 
line,  the  White  Star  line,  the  State  line,  and 
others  which  bring  us  thousands  of  tourists  and 
immigrants,  and  the  most  valuable  freights.  The 


The  Canal-Boats,  East  River 


NEW   YORK  ILLUSTRATED 


arrival  or  departure  of  one  of  these  tine  triumphs 
of  marine  architecture  is  a  picturesque  and  ani- 
mating sight.  The  great  ship  itself,  viewed  as  a 
study  of  man's  scientific  mastery  in  hi-  combat 
with  Nature,  is  a  marvel  in  OOmpleteneai  of  make 
and  equipment,  alike  to  defy  the  treacherous 
moods  of  the  sea,  and  to  subserve  all  the  cam- 
forts  and  luxuries  of  man. 

European  steamers  leave  and  arrive  at  the 
port  of  New  York  daily,  sometimes  half  a  dozen 
in  a  single  day,  and,  in  addition  to  these  great 
ships  that  ply  over  the  ocean-ferry  to  Europe. 


there  are  lines  to  South  and  Central  America,  the 
West  Indies,  the  Windward  Islands,  to  Florida, 
New  Orleans,  Texas,  Mexico.  Cuba,  and  various 
other  domestic  and  foreign  destinations.  Among 
the  European  lines  the  Cunard  has  lui,^-  be-.-n 
famous  for  its  immunity  from  accident.  The 
White  Star  line  is  widely  known  for  its  large, 
admirably  equipped,  and  swift  vessels;  and  the 
William-  iv.  Onion  line  has  at  tie  bead  of  if- 
tleet.  the  largest  >teamship  in  the  world,  the  Ari- 
zona, with  the  exception  of  the  Great  Eastern. 
An  ocean-steamer  i-  a  v.i-t  Moating  hotel,  where 


Wharf-Scene. 


rich  and  poor  find  accommodations  to  suit  their 
means  and  their  tastes.  When  one  of  these  great 
vessels,  decked  with  flags,  and  crowded  with 
people  on  its  decks,  waving  handkerchiefs  to 
their  friends  ashore,  moves  out  of  the  wharf, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  striking  and  suggestive 
scenes  to  be  witnessed  on  the  water-front  of  the 
city,  fruitful  as  it  is  in  interesting  suggestions. 
Although  the  stormy  Atlantic  has  become  merely 
a  great  ocean-ferry,  an  occasional  terrible  disas- 
ter by  storm  or  fire  still  invests  travel  across 
its  long  leagues  of  sea  with  that  dim  sugges- 
tion of  tragedy  and  horror  which  always  belongs 


to  the  unknown.  The  scenes  consequent  on  the 
arrival  of  an  ocean-steamer  have  also  their  in- 
teresting phases,  often  mixed  with  a  dash  of  the 
ludicrous,  which  grow  out  of  the  inspection  of 
baggage  by  the  Custom-House  officers. 

For  those  visitors  to  New  York,  who  may  be 
contemplating  foreign  travel,  it  may  be  useful  and 
interesting,  in  this  connection,  to  learn'something 
of  the  modus  operandi  of  the  Custom-House  offi- 
cials on  the  arrival  of  any  steamship  from  a  for- 
eign port.  The  baggage  of  passengers  is  landed 
on  the  steamship-wharf  as  soon  as  practical  after 
the  vessel  is  docked.    But,  before  any  baggage 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


91 


Fish-Market,  East  River. 


is  delivered,  each  passenger  is  required  to  make, 
under  oath,  an  entry,  of  his  or  her  baggage,  and 
a  separate  entry,  also  under  oath,  of  all  articles 
contained  in  his  or  her  baggage  which,  by  the 
United  States  laws,  are  subject  to  duty,  and  to 


I  pay  such  duty,  if  any.    The  blank  forms  of  the 
i  entries  to  be  made  are  (if  practicable)  furnished 
to  each  passenger  after  the  vessel  leaves  quaran- 
tine by  the  customs  officers,  who  also  give  the  pas- 
senger all  necessary  information  relative  thereto. 


Fishing-Boats  in  Dock. 


!>2 


N'KW  VOKK  tLLUSTRATED. 


In  case  no  customs  officers  come  on  board  at  quar- 
antine, the  forms  of  entries  arc  famished  when 
the  vessel  arrives  at  her  wharf.    The  senior  mem-  ! 

bar  of  a  family  coming  together,  if  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  contents  of  tin-  baggage  of  the 
whole  party  to  make  a  sworn  statement  of  the! 
same,  is  allowed  to  include  all  such  baggage  in 
one  entry.  Whenever  any  trunk  or  package 
brought  by  a  passenger  as  baggage  contains  arti- 
cles subject  to  duty,  and  the  value  thereof  ex- 
ceeds live  hundred  dollars,  or  if  the  quantity  or 
variety  of  the  dut  iable  articles  is  such  that  a  prop- 
er examination,  classification,  or  appraisement 

can  not  be  made  at  the  vessel,  the  trunk  or  pack- 
age is  sent  to  the  public  store  for  appraisement. 
Passengers  will  find  it  useful  to  remember  that 
wearing-apparel  to  be  free  must  not  only  have 
been  worn,  but  must  show  signs  of  wear;  the 
intention  to  wear  it  one's  self  is  not  sufficient. 
Jewelry  that  has  been  worn  or  is  in  use  as  a  per-  \ 
sonal  ornament  is  admitted  free,  but  duty  is  de- 
manded on  all  watches  but  one  brought  in  by  a 
single  passenger,  even  if  all  of  them  are  old.  In 
spite  of  the  vigilance  of  the  revenue  officials,  who 
watch  with  lynx-eyes  every  attempt  to  infringe 
on  the  regulations,  there  are  not  a  few  successful 
smugglers.  Fair  ladies,  who  belong  to  the  most 
aristocratic  circles,  do  not  at  times  think  it  either 
sinful  or  undignified  to  evade  paying  duty  on  cost- 
ly laces,  gloves,  jewelry,  and  similar  articles  of 
luxury.  The  moral  casuistry,  by  which  one  is 
persuaded  that  cheating  the  Government  out  of 
such  small  matters  as  customs  dues  is  rather  cred- 
itable than  otherwise,  is  of  the  simplest  kind,  and 
almost  intuitively  appreciated  by  most  people 
except  the  Government  officials.  The  fun  for 
the  bystander  is  when  one  of  these  gentry  de- 
tects the  offense.  The  ruthless  severity  witli 
which  trunks  and  other  baggage  are  then  exam- 
ined and  tossed  about  piece  by  piece,  the  dismay 
of  the  fair  offender  and  her  friends,  and  the  ex- 
citement and  curiosity  of  the  wharf-loungers  and 
workmen,  make  quite  a  little  comedy.  These  ' 
occurrences  occasionally  appear  in  print;  but,  j 
if  the  stories  of  the  customs  officials  be  true, 
most  of  the  facts  are  quietly  hushed  up  and 
kept  from  the  knowledge  of  the  eager  and  active 
reporter. 

The  wharves  are  generally  crowded  with  steve-  j 
dores  and  other  laborers  busy  in  loading  and  un- 
loading ships,  and  a  continual  succession  of  drays 
is  going  and  coming,  making  the  approaches  more 
than  ordinarily  difficult  to  the  foot-passenger,  j 
who  hears,  in  an  hour,  if  he  is  not  familiar  with  [ 
the  argot  of  blasphemy,  more  sulphurous  lan- 
guage in  this  quarter  than  he  would  otherwise  j 


learn  in  a  month,  The  business  of  the  stevedore 
is  one  requiring  special  skill  and  knowledge,  as 
the  problem  of  packing  away  the  multifarious 
freight  in  the  most  compact  form  without  too 
much  interfering  with  the  balance  of  tlie  ship  is 
not  an  easy  one  to  solve.  In  and  out  of  the 
swarm  of  laborers  darts  the  ragged  gutter-snipe, 
his  sharp  eye  cocked  for  a  chance  to  steal  any  ar- 
ticle, if  it  be  only  an  orange  or  a  cocoanut,  when- 
ever t  he  attention  of  the  policeman  is  turned  away 
from  him.  Accidents  are  not  uncommon  along 
the  water-front,  and  one  wonders  that  they  are 
not  more  frequent.  Strong  men  with  hare  breasts 
and  arms,  sweating  in  the  hot  sun.  toil  up  and 
down  the  narrow  gang  plank  from  ship  to  shore 
in  an  endless  file,  hearing  on  their  stooping  shoul- 
ders great  burdens  of  barrels,  boxes,  bales,  etc. 
Suddenly  one  of  these  human  dray-horses  slips 
and  falls  a  dozen  feet  or  more,  crushed  and  man- 
gled. Such  is  a  pa-sing  episode,  quickly  accom- 
plished and  soon  forgotten  in  the  tumult  of  hu- 
man interests  surging  around  ;  but  it  means  untold 
misery  and  wretchedness  to  a  few  hearts. 

A  brief  walk  from  the  great  wharves  of  the 
North  River  carries  us  fairly  into  the  heart  of 
the  produce  trade  which  monopolizes  "West 
Street,  from  Canal  Street  to  the  Battery,  and 
most  of  the  intersecting  streets  as  far  back  as 
Greenwich  Street.  Flour,  meal,  butter,  eggs, 
cheese,  meats,  poultry,  fish,  cram  the  tall  ware- 
ho us,-  and  rude  sheds,  teeming  at  the  water's 
edge  to  their  fullest  capacity.  Fruit-famed  New 
Jersey  pours  four  fifths  of  its  produce  into  this 
lap  of  distributive  commerce;  the  river-hugging 
counties  above  contribute  their  share ;  and  car- 
loads come  trundling  in  from  the  West  to  feed 
the  perpetually  hungry  maw  of  the  Empire  City. 

The  concentration  of  this  great  and  stirring 
trade  is  to  be  met  with  at  Washington  Market. 
This  vast  wooden  structure,  with  its  numerous 
outbuildings  and  sheds,  is  an  irregular  and  un- 
sightly one,  but  presents  a  most  novel  and  inter- 
esting scene  within  and  without.  The  sheds  are 
mainly  devoted  to  smaller  stands  and  smaller  sales. 
Women  with  baskets  of  fish  and  tubs  of  tripe  on 
their  heads,  lusty  butcher-boys  lugging  halves  or 
quarters  of  beef  or  mutton  into  their  carts,  ped- 
dlers of  every  description,  etc.,  tend  to  amuse 
and  bewilder  at  the  same  time.  Some  of  the 
produce  dealers  and  brokers,  who  occupy  the 
little  box-like  shanties  facing  the  market  from 
the  river,  do  a  business  almost  as  large  as  any  of 
the  neighboring  merchants  boasting  their  five- 
story  warehouses.  The  sidewalks  some  years 
ago  were  so  clogged  up  by  booths  that  passage 
was  seriously  impeded ;  but  this  nuisance  has 


94 


N'KW  YORK  [LLU8TRATKD. 


Dry-Dock. 


been  somewhat  abated,  though  there  is  still  a  to  acquire  their  peculiar  flavor  by  planting  Id 
great  chance  for  improvement.  Northern  waters,  though  the  epicures  of  Balti- 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  North  River  more,  Washington,  and  Richmond  contemptu- 
front  will  be  found  in  the  great  wholesale  oyster-  ously  deny  this  allegation  of  superior  excellence, 
boats,  consisting  of  rusty  and  dilapidated-looking  Oysters  are  good  and  plentiful  in  New  York  at 
barges,  moored  by  the  stern  to  the  wharves.  Into  all  seasons  of  the  year,  in  spite  of  the  popular 
these  receptacles  the  sloops  engaged  in  the  oys-  notion  that  they  are  only  fit  for  food  from  Sep- 
ter-trade  discharge  their  cargoes,  and  thence  tember  to  May.  The  trade,  however,  during  the 
the  luscious  bivalve  is  distributed  to  dealers  in  summer  months  is  not  active,  and  the  oyster- 
all  parts  of  the  city.  Oysters  are  brought  to  merchants  in  their  floating  warehouses  on  the 
New  York  from  points  as  far  south  as  Virginia  North  River  look  disconsolate  till  the  months 
and  Maryland,  and  from  the  northern  coast  as  containing  the  magical  R  pass  by  and  bring  in 
far  as  Boston,  but  the  bulk  of  them  come  from    the  stirring  season  again. 

the  inlets  of  the  New  Jersey  coast  and  Long  At  the  southern  end  of  the  East  River  water- 
Island  Sound.  So  valuable  has  the  oyster  busi-  ,  front  we  find  the  canal-boats  which  receive  the 
ness  become,  that  acres  of  salt-water  within  fifty  freight  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  the  locality  is  so 
miles  of  New  York,  in  favorable  localities,  are  deceptive  in  its  quietness  that  a  stranger  would 
worth  several  fold  the  same  area  of  dry  land,  j  never  suspect  the  immense  commerce  which  be- 
Some  oyster-farmers  send  to  the  city  from  one  j  longs  to  it.  The  turtle-like  crafts,  painted  gen- 
hundred  to  two  hundred  thousand  bushels  every  \  erally  in  the  most  grotesquely  glaring  colors,  are 
season,  and  not  a  few  become  wealthy  in  a  few  so  closely  moored  together,  that  one  can  easily 
years  in  pursuing  this  business.  The  seed- oys-  !  walk  across  them  from  wharf  to  wharf.  Men, 
ters  are  brought  from  the  South,  and  are  said    women,  and  mayhap  children,  may  be  seen  from 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


95 


time  to  time  on  their  decks,  and  strings  of  fam- 
ily washing  flutter  in  the  breeze  like  ships'  bunt- 
ing, One  may  see  a  cradle  here,  a  dog  there, 
and,  perhaps,  glaring  at  him  from  the  next  old 
tub,  a  belligerent  tomcat.  Here  and  there  we 
may  also  see  lace  curtains  at  the  windows,  and 
flowers  peeping  from  behind — in  a  word,  all  the 
signs  of  pleasant  domesticity.  If,  like  Asmode- 
us,  we  could  see  through  the  decks,  we  should 
probably  find  the  stern  divided  into  three  or 
four  compartments,  provided  with  all  the  com- 
forts for  a  small  family,  even  to  parlor-organs 
and  sewing-machines.  The  canal-boatmen  have 
their  homes-  on  board  these  vessels,  and  often- 
times show  no  little  taste  in  fitting  them  up. 
There  was  a  time,  many  years  ago,  when  these 
canal-men  were  a  rough  and  quarrelsome  lot,  and 
many  were  the  furious  fights,  oftentimes  ending 
in  homicide,  which  occurred.  Like  the  flat-boat- 
men of  the  West,  they  were  passionate,  trucu- 
lent, and  revengeful,  though  with  many  good 
qualities.  But  things  have  changed  with  this 
class  of  late  years,  and  they  are  now  as  common- 
place and  orderly  as  any  exposed  by  the  nature 
of  things  to  a  laborious  and  severe  life. 

The  principal  lines  of  transportation  from  the 
West  to  the  East  include  about  ten  thousand 
miles  of  railway,  seven  thousand  miles  of  river, 


sixteen  hundred  miles  of  lake,  and  sixteen  hun- 
dred miles  of  canal.  The  total  freight  carried 
over  them  in  one  year  is  about  ten  million  tons, 
one  fourth  of  which  is  transported  by  boats 
through  the  Erie  Canal  and  down  the  Hudson 
River,  a  striking  exhibit,  which  is  emphasized 
by  the  fact  that  the  canal  is  only  open  for  six 
months  in  the  year.  The  boats  travel  over  ten 
million  miles  a  season,  and  give  employment  to 
about  twenty-eight  thousand  men  and  sixteen 
thousand  horses  and  mules.  Passing  through 
the  quiet  valleys  of  the  Genesee  and  the  Mo- 
hawk, they  appear  so  primitive  in  structure  and 
slow  in  motion  that  few  persons  unfamiliar  with 
the  facts  would  be  willing  to  give  them  credit 
for  much  usefulness ;  they  are  towed  on  the  river 
in  long  strings  by  great,  white  tow-boats,  but, 
inert  as  they  apparently  are,  their  services  to 
commerce  far  surpass  those  of  the  railway,  whose 
trains  travel  in  one  day  a  greater  distance  than 
the  boats  travel  in  a  week. 

Wall  Street  Ferry  passed,  with  its  crowds  of 
passengers  and  vehicles,  we  glance  at  a  dock  full 
of  the  fruit- schooners  that  bring  to  the  city  or- 
anges, bananas,  lemons,  and  grapes,  from  the 
tropics.  No  city  in  the  world  out  of  the  tropics 
can  show  such  a  variety  of  luscious  fruits.  The 
immense  contrast  of  climate  within  our  own  bor- 


i 


Navy-Yard,  Brooklyn. 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


ders,  and  the  proximity  of  New  York  to  the 
West  Indies,  the  most  luxuriant  fruit-producing 
region  of  the  world,  tills  the  market  in  turn  with 
the  most  delicious  products  of  vegetable  nature. 
The  sight  of  the  booths  in  the  fruit-market,  with 
its  burden  of  rioh  and  varied  color,  is  a  studv 
for  the  painter  in  its  rich  luxuriance  of  hues,  as 
well  as  suggestive  to  the  epicure. 

As  the  Bight  Beer  -trolls  from  wharf  to  wharf, 
he  constantly  sees  something  new  to  strike  his 
attention.  Here  is  the  little  Florida  orange- 
schooner,  with  her  sun-stained  and  shaggy  sails 
and  cordage,  and  boatmen  still  more  brown  and 
shaggy.  There  is  a  Cuban  brigantine,  with  its 
richly  odorous  pineapples  and  bananas,  and  we 
can  almost  smell  the  balmy  tropical  breezes  and 


>ri-  the  -lowing  splendor  of  tropir.-il  vegetation 
as  we  give  fancy  the  rein,  and  find  ourselves 
transported  thousands  of  miles  away.  We  be- 
hold on  the  wharves  cargoes  of  aromatic  teas 
from  China  and  Japan,  pungent  hides  from 
Texas  and  Buenos  Ayres,  huge  swollen  bales  of 
white  cotton  from  Louisiana,  coffees  from  Bra- 
zil and  Venezuela,  expensive  -ilks  and  wines 
from  France.  The  commerce  of  the  mOfft  wide- 
ly scattered  zones  is  emptied  on  these  shabby 

I  wharves  in  kingly  profusion,  and,  among  it  all, 
lounge.-  some  swart  and  bearded  sailor,  whose 
ga\  bandana  and  silver  ear-rings  -how  a  being 

i  distinct  from  any  ordinary  type  in  his  life,  his 
tastes,  and  his  notion-. 

But  here  we  find  a  fleet  of  imaokl  moored, 


A  Misty  Morning. 


which  sends  thought  in  a  different  direction,  and 
recalls  to  fancy  the  stiff  breezes  and  shining  bil- 
lows that  toss  the  fisher-craft  off  the  Newfound- 
land Banks.  We  are  at  the  Fulton  Ferry  Fish- 
Market.  This  stands  on  the  river-side  of  South 
Street,  north  of  the  ferry-house,  and  is  a  long, 
low  frame  building  of  neat  appearance,  which 
is  maintained  by  private  enterprise.  The  fishing 
schooners  and  sloops  discharge  their  cargoes  at 
the  market  from  the  adjacent  slips,  and  the  fish 
are  then  laid  out  in  attractive  fashion  on  marble 
slabs  or  stored  in  bulk  in  great  ice-chests.  In 
the  early  morning  the  place  is  made  a  bedlam 
by  the  throngs  of  licensed  venders  and  up-town 
retail  dealers,  laying  in  and  carting  away  their 
daily  supplies. 

As  we  stand  here,  by  the  Fulton  Ferry  dock, 


the  Great  East  River  Bridge  looms  up  in  its 
grand  proportions,  and  we  stop  to  admire  one  of 
the  finest  specimens  of  bridge-engineering  in  the 
world.  We  can  not  do  better  than  give  our 
readers  some  brief  description  of  this  lofty  road- 
way, across  which  so  much  of  the  travel  and 
traffic  between  the  two  cities  will  ere  long  pass. 

The  number  of  people  who  annually  cross  the 
river  is  now  probably  but  little  short  of  eighty 
million.  The  inadequacy  of  the  ferries  to  ac- 
commodate the  immense  number  of  persons  daily 
crossing  between  the  two  cities,  and  the  inter- 
ruptions so  often  caused  by  fog  and  ice,  led  to 
the  project  of  constructing  this  great  bridge, 
which  is  not  likely  to  be  fully  completed  for 
another  year,  at  least.  The  Brooklyn  terminus 
will  be  in  the  square  bounded  by  Fulton,  Pros- 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


97 


pect,  Sands,  and  "Washington  Streets;  the  New 
York  terminus  in  Chatham  Square,  opposite  the 
City  Hall  Park.  The  supporting  tower  on  the 
New  York  side  is  at  Pier  No.  29,  near  the  foot 
of  Roosevelt  Street; 
and  the  corresponding 
tower  in  Brooklyn  is 
just  north  of  the  Fulton 
Ferry-house. 

The  bridge  may  be 
divided  into  five  parts: 
the  central  span  across 
the  river  from  tower 
to  tower,  fifteen  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five 
feet  long;  a  span  on 
each  side  from  the  tow- 
er to  the  anchorage, 
nine  hundred  and  forty 
feet  long;  and  the  ap- 
proaches from  the  ter- 
minus to  the  anchorage 
on  each  side.  The  total 
length  of  the  bridge 
closely  approaches  six 
thousand  feet.  The 
width,  of  eighty-five 
feet,  will  include  a 
promenade  of  thirteen 
feet,  two  railroad- 
tracks,  and  four  wagon 
or  horse-car  tracks. 
From  high-water  mark 
to  the  floor  of  the  bridge 
in  the  center  will  be  a 
distance  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty -five  feet,  a 
height  considered  great 
enough  to  remove  all 
impediment  to  free  nav- 
igation. The  central 
span  is  suspended  from 
four  cables  of  steel  wire, 
each  sixteen  inches  in 
diameter,  which  are  as- 
sisted by  stays,  the  ca- 
bles having  a  deflec- 
tion of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  feet. 
Each  tower  rests  im- 
mediately on  a  caisson, 

sunk  to  the  rock  beneath  the  river,  this  being 
on  the  New  York  side  about  ninety  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  water.  The  towers  erected 
upon  these  foundations  are  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  by  fifty-six  feet  at  the  water-line; 
7 


below  the  upper  cornice  at  the  top  these  di- 
mensions are  reduced,  by  sloped  offsets  at  inter- 
vals, to  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  by  forty. 
The  total  height  above  high  water  of  each  tower 


is  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet.  At  the 
anchorages  each  of  the  four  cables,  after  passing 
over  the  towers,  enters  the  anchor-walls  at  an 
elevation  of  nearly  eighty  feet  above  high  wa- 
ter, and  passes  through  the  masonry  a  distance 


NEW  YORK  ILLU8TRATED. 


of  twenty  feet,  at 
which  point  a  <  <,n- 
IHflU—  is  formed 
with  the  anchor- 
chains.  Each  an- 
chorage contains 
ahout  thirty-five 
thousand  cubic 
yards  of  masonry. 
The  spans  from  tin- 
anchorages  to  the 
towers  are  suspend- 
ed to  the  cables,  and 
carried  over  the 
roofs  of  the  build- 
ings underneath. 
Tin-  approach  on 
the  Brooklyn  side 
from  the  terminus 
to  the  anchorage 
measures  eight  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six 
feet;  on  the  New 
York  side,  thirteen 
hundred  and  thirty- 
six  feet.  These  ap- 
proaches are  sup- 
ported by  iron  gird- 
ers and  trusses, 
which  will  rest  at 
short  intervals  upon 
piers  of  masonry,  or 
iron  columns  built 
within  the  blocks 
crossed  and  occu- 
pied. The  streets 
are  crossed  by  stone 
arches  at  such  ele- 
vations as  to  leave 
them  unobstructed. 
The  Brooklyn  ter- 
minus is  sixty-eight 
feet  above  high  tide. 
The  cost  has  already 
largely  exceeded  the 
original  estimate  for 
the  entire  work,  and 
before  it  is  fully 
completed  some  fif- 
teen million  dollars 
will  in  all  probabil- 
ity have  been  ex- 
pended. The  heavy 
masonry  for  the 
anchorages  and 
street  approaches  is 


RIVER  AND  WHARF  SCENES. 


99 


at  the  time  of  this  writing  far  advanced  toward 
completion  in  both  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 

It  has  been  proposed  to  have  both  steam  and 
horse-car  transit  over  the  bridge,  and,  if  this  is 
accomplished,  it  will  be  not  only  an  important  re- 
sult in  railroad  economy  as  applied  to  city  travel, 
but  a  most  picturesque  and  striking  fact  in  our 
city  life.  In  all  essential  ways  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  must  be  regarded  as  the  one  metrop- 
olis, and  nowhere  else  in  the  world  will  the  eve 


be  greeted  with  lines  of  metropolitan  traffic  and 
travel  running  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet 
above  the  water-level. 

Hurrying  past  Roosevelt,  Hunter's  Point,  and 
Catharine  Street  Ferries,  we  are  next  curiously 
struck  in  contemplating  the  system  of  dry  docks. 
Marvelously  crazy,  rotten,  twisted,  unsightly  ob- 
jects these  dry  docks  are,  but  they  are  most  im- 
portant adjuncts  to  the  marine  interests  of  New 
York,  for  it  is  here  that  vessels  are  put  in  hospital 


High  Bridge. 


for  repairs.  We  draw  near  the  iron-foundries 
and  the  gas-w  ^>rks  as  we  pass  along  in  our  tour 
of  inspection,  and  the  shipping  begins  to  be  less 
thick,  the  traffic  less  noisy.  A  common  sight  in 
this  neighborhood  is  a  battered  old  turret-ship  or 
an  old  frigate  lying  in  ordinary  at  moorings.  Not 
only  have  there  been  built  here  the  huge  boilers 
and  ponderous  engines  of  many  an  ocean-steamer, 
but  the  iron  sides  of  the  steamers  themselves 
have  been  fused,  and  cast,  and  shaped,  and 
bolted,  and  built  on  this  spot.  You  note  your 
approach  to  the  works  by  the  overflow  of  super- 
fluous iron-ware.  Vast,  rusty,  propped-up  cav- 
erns of  iron  confront  you;  abandoned  boilers, 
big  enough  for  church-steeples,  encumber  all  the 
highways ;  smaller  fragments  of  iron,  of  mani- 
fold mysterious  shapes,  lie  piled  up  on  every  curb- 
stone. Then  appear  the  tall  walls,  the  great 
chimneys,  and  all  the  horrible  confusion  of  vast 
work-yards  and  workshops.    All  about  is  grimy 


and  repulsive.  The  mud  is  black  with  coal-dust : 
the  pools  of  water  dark  and  dismal ;  the  low,  rot- 
ten, wretched  houses  clustering  about,  damp  and 
sooty ;  all  the  faces,  and  all  the  walls,  and  all 
the  posts,  and  every  object,  grimy  and  soiled ; 
while  the  distracting  din  of  innumerable  ham- 
mers "  closing  rivets  up  "  unites  in  rendering  the 
whole  scene  purgatorial.  A  great  industry  and 
source  of  wealth  is  the  iron  interest,  but  the 
manipulation  of  that  indispensable  metal  has 
abundant  harsh  and  discordant  features.  Be- 
yond the  iron- works  are  more  ship-yards,  more 
ferries,  more  vessels,  with  wharf-building,  lot- 
filling,  dirt-dumping,  and  what-not. 

A  brief  glance  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard, 
which  is  on  the  south  shore  of  Wallabout  Bay, 
and  about  opposite  Corlear's  Hook,  will  be  of 
interest  to  the  reader.  This  is  the  principal 
naval  station  in  the  country,  and  the  grounds 
embrace  a  total  area  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 


LOO 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


tour  acres,  including  more  than  a  mile  of  splen- 
did wharfage.    About  two  thousand  men  arc 

employed  here  almost  constantly,  ami  the  >tatioii 
is  under  the  command  of  a  commodore  of  the 
United  States  Navy.  The  visitor  will  find  here 
a  myriad  of  things  to  interest  his  attention,  hut 
over  these  we  must  pass  hastily  with  a  brief  de- 
scription of  the  immense  dry  dock,  which  i-  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  structures  of  the  kind  in 
the  world.  It  is  built  of  granite,  and  tin-  main 
chamber  is  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  feet  long 
by  thirty-live  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  and  three 

hundred  and  seven  feet  long  by  ninety-eight  feet 

wide  at  the  top,  with  a  depth  of  t hirty-six  feet. 
The  enormous  steam-pumps  connected  with  the 
dock  can  empty  it  ot  water  in  lour  and  a  half 
hours.  This  dock  cost  considerably  o\er  two 
million  dollars. 

The  United  States  Naval  Lyceum,  founded 
by  officers  of  the  Navy  in  1838.  is  situated  in  the 
Navy- Yard.  It  has  a  fine  library  and  a  large 
collection  of  curiosities,  together  with  valuable 
geological  and  inineralogical  cabinets.  Just  east 
of  the  Navy- Yard  are  extensive  marine  barra  k-. 
and  on  the  opposite  side  of  Wallabout  Hay  i-  the 
Marine  Hospital,  a  handsome  structure  surround- 
ed by  twenty-one  acres  of  ground,  and  having 
accommodations  for  five  hundred  patients.  The 
yard  is  under  the  command  of  a  commodore  of 
the  United  States  Navy. 

Crossing  to  the  New  York  side  again  and 
hastening  up  the  line  of  wharves,  at  last  we 
reach  the  upper  portion  of  the  East  River  water- 
front, where  we  seem  to  have  passed  out  of  the 
domain  of  commerce  and  manufacture,  and  a  kind 
of  lazy  life  pervades  the  docks  almost  as  sluggish 
and  easy-going  as  that  of  some  coasting  port. 
Ferry-boats  and  steamboats  plow  the  river,  and 
a  fleet  of  sail  and  row  boats  glide  pleasantly  over 
the  calm  water,  suggestive  of  anything  but  the 
bustle  and  turmoil  of  a  great  city.  As  we  ap- 
proach Harlem  Bridge,  which  crosses  the  Har- 
lem River  at  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth 
Street  and  Third  Avenue,  the  scene  is  pictu- 
resque and  attractive. 

In  this  vicinity  a  large  number  of  boat-clubs 
have  their  headquarters,  and  here  most  of  the 
races  occur.  On  any  pleasant  day,  as  one  stands 
on  the  bridge,  he  will  see  racing-shells  flash 
through  the  water  propelled  by  brawny  arms. 
Boats  are  always  found  here  to  let,  either  for 
pleasure-parties  or  exercise  with  the  single  scull, 
and  it  need  not  be  said  that  Harlem  Bridge  is  a 
favorite  resort  for  the  young  athletes  of  the  city. 


On  a  holiday  the  river  piv-mts  a  mo-t  gay  and 
lively  aspect.  Steamboats,  -team-launches,  and 
small  craft-,  loaded  with  pK  asiu  r-seekers,  till 
the  water  on  all  sides,  and  row-boat-  glide  in 
and  out  under  the  swift  -t  n.k.-  of  athletic  oars- 

|  men.     Everybody  semis  bent  on  pleasure,  but 

\  amid  the  joyous  crowd  we  see  little  confusion 
ami  hear  no  loud  oaths,  for  it  i-  the  more  orderly 
and  decent  (las-  that  seeks  diversion  in  this 
quarter.    Perhaps  nowhere  in  New  York  or  its 

I  environs  can  be  witnessed  a  more  breezy,  piet- 
uresquc,  and  exhilarating  scene  than  the  Har- 
lem River  on  one  of  these  occasions,  when  every- 
body i>  bent  for  an  outing  on  the  water. 

Farther  up  the  Harlem  River,  at  (hn-  Hun- 
dred and  Seventy-fifth  Street,  we  reach  High 
Bridge,  on  which  the  Croton  Aqueduct  is  car- 
ried aen»s-  the  river  and  valley.  The  bridge  is 
fourteen  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  and  sup- 
ported by  thirteen  arches  iv-t ing  on  n»lid  gran- 
ite piers,  the  crown  of  the  highest  arch  be- 
ing one  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  above  the 
water-level.     The   water   i-  carried    over  the 

|  bridge  in  large  cast-iron  pipes  protected  by  brick 
masonry.    The  visitor,  as  he  strolls  over  the 

I  fine  footpath  on  the  bridge,  hasu  noble  prospect 

[  greeting  his  eyes,  well  repaying  him  for  the  troub- 
le of  his  journey.    There  are  several  hotels  and 

1  restaurants  in  the  vicinity,  ami  this  locality  baa 
for  a  long  while  been  a  favorite  one  for  Sunday 

:  and  holiday  excursions.  On  the  left  or  island 
side  of  the  river  are  a  handsome  high-service 
tower  and  engine-house,  which  play  an  impor- 
tant part  in  raising  the  distributing  source  to 
the  proper  level  for  service  in  supplying  Croton 

j  water  to  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  With  the 
new  facilities  of  transit  recently  furnished  by  the 
completion  of  the  railroad-bridge,  enabling  the 
cars  of  the  Metropolitan  Elevated  road  to  reach 
High  Bridge,  there  is  no  reason  why  this  should 

-DOT  * 

I  not  become  one  of  the  favorite  resorts  of  the  hol- 
'  iday  seekers  of  New  York.  The  air  is  deliciously 
pure  and  cool  even  on  warm  days,  the  landscape 
a  most  charming  one,  and  there  are  a  variety  of 
;  pleasant  rural  strolls  on  both  sides  of  the  river, 
I  with  easy  passage  from  one  to  the  other. 

In  our  rapid  glance  at  the  extended  water- 
front of  New  York,  it  goes  without  saying  that 
many  interesting  facts  have  been  passed  unno- 
ticed, but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  the  vis- 
itor to  the  Empire  City  what  a  fund  for  sugges- 
tive thought  as  well  as  amusement  is  offered  to 
i  him  in  making  a  circuit  of  the  wharves  which 
;  fringe  the  borders  of  New  York. 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


101 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


^VTOWHERE  in  the  world  have  so  many  dif- 
-l-i  ferent  styles  of  building  found  expression 
as  in  the  United  States.  The  fact  that  there  is 
no  special  style  which  is  the  outcome  of  our  peo- 
ple and  our  national  life,  none  indigenous  to  our 
soil,  united  with  the  alert  and  eclectic  mind  of 


the  American,  has  resulted  in  great  multiplicity 
of  architectural  motive  and  ornament.  Not  only 
is  this  the  case,  but  it  is  no  less  true  that  many 
of  our  most  pleasing  structures  are  composite  in 
their  character,  presenting  features  of  different 
styles,  which  are  often  blended  into  artistic  unity 


Roof  and  Windows,  corner  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-seventh  Street. 


with  much  ingenuity  and  knowledge,  though  it 
is  not  uncommon  again  to  observe  occasional  in- 
congruity in  these  ambitious  attempts. 

The  student  of  New  York  buildings  will  dis- 
cover specimens  of  every  kind,  from  battlement- 
ed  and  turreted  imitations  of  the  castles  of  the 
middle  ages  to  the  high-roofed  French  houses 
which  contain  one  or  two  stories  above  the  cor- 
nice. In  these  latter  the  retreating  slant  of 
the  roof,  as  well  as  the  slightly  receding  side- 
wall  of  the  house  itself,  has  served  to  give  the 
occupants  more  light  and  air  than  would  be  af- 
forded in  the  winter  time  by  straight  facades  in 
the  narrow  and  dark  streets  of  old  Paris.  Many 
of  the  buildings  are  picturesque  and  agreeable  to 
the  eye,  and  for  their  pleasant  qualities  of  form 
we  are  glad  to  see  them  springing  up  in  the 
midst  of  our  own  cities,  whose  climatic  or  politi- 
cal necessities  are  totally  different  from  those  that 
gave  them  birth.  We  conceive  that  pleasant 
things  or  beautiful  things,  within  certain  limits, 


are  their  own  reason  for  being,  if  these  qualities 
do  not  interfere  with  more  serious  uses,  a  con- 
sideration always  important. 

A  style  in  considerable  vogue  is  that  of  the 
French  chateau,  with  its  turrets  of  different 
shapes,  finials,  quaintly  decorated  chimneys,  etc., 
giving  an  impression  of  great  airiness  and  light- 
ness, no  matter  how  massive  and  solid  the  gen- 
eral structure.  In  the  magnificent  Vanderbilt 
house,  on  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty- 
seventh  Street,  this  French  chateau  style  is  con- 
siderably modified  by  old  Dutch  characteristics, 
these  features  being  carried  out  with  great  elabo- 
ration and  variety  in  the  ornamentation.  It  may 
be  a  question  whether  this  profusion  of  decora- 
tion produces  on  the  whole  as  pleasant  an  effect 
on  the  eye  as  would  a  greater  unity  and  sim- 
plicity, but  assuredly  the  most  carping  critic 
could  not  go  so  far  as  to  call  it  meretricious,  as 
in  the  general  effect  we  discern  some  relation  of 
ornament  to  use;    This  is  particularly  noticeable 


102 


N  EE  W  YORK  [LLU8TRATED. 


in  the  modified  Dutch  windows,  which  in  c  un- 
met ion  with  the  chimneys  break  the  sky-line  so 
picturesquely,  and  suggest  light,  air,  and  cheerful- 
ness in  the  interior.  1  n  some  particulars  this  house 
resembles  that  of  another  member  of  the  Vander- 
bllt  family,  at  the  corner  of  Fifty-second  street 
and  the  same  avenue  (see  p.  30).  Both  houses  are 
striking  and  unique  in  design,  and  are  notable  ex- 
amples of  recent  outcomes  of  architectural  art. 


dozen  squares  the  eye  is  continually  delighted 
with  striking  and  original  forms.  Thil  is  alike  no- 
ticeable in  the  porches,  the  windows,  and  the 
general  effect  of  the  front.  We  observe  in  tbete 
novel  structures  a  pleasing  irregularity,  winch  is 
independent  of  old  conventional  notions,  and  a 
daring  of  design,  which  has  been  carried  out 
with  enough  harmony  of  detail  to  relieve  it  from 
the  imputation  of  the  grotesque,  while  it  fasci- 


Nowherein  New    nates  the  fancy  by  its  freshness  and  piquancy. 


York  can  be  seen  a 
greater  variety  of 
architectural  feat- 
ures in  private 
houses  than  in  Fif- 
ty-seventh Street, 
where  for    half  a 


Facades,  Fifty-seventh  Street,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues. 


Between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues  in  Fifty- 
seventh  Street  may  be  seen  a  group  of  houses 
which  illustrate  this  admirably.  There  is  such  a 
quint  confusion  in  the  facades  of  these  houses 
as  to  make  them  ditlicult  to  describe.  The  fir.»t 
one  on  the  left  of  the  illustration  is  peculiarly 
novel  in  style.  The  low.  Hat  -t.  ps  leading  from 
the  street  at  an  angle, 
give  an  air  of  seclusion 
and  privacy  to  the  porch 
without  detracting  from 
its  openness.  This  pe- 
culiarity of  the  porch, 
as  we  shall  see  more 
fully  further  on,  is  a 
feature  of  many  of  the 
newer  New  York  houses. 
The  two  bay-windows 
of  the  house  which  we 
are  now  noticing  make 
the  most  curious  charac- 
teristic of  its  front.  The 
outer  projections  of  the 
lower  window'  sweep 
upward  in  a  long  curve, 
making  an  apparent' 
foundation  for  the  upper 
window,  which  extends 
farther  outward,  the  two 
windows  thus  offering 
an  appearance  of  unity 
of  design  and  structure. 
The  imagination  sees, 
behind  this  decorative 
effect  given  the  front,  a 
fullness  and  airiness  of 
outlook  from  the  interi- 
or, which  come  of  this 
arrangement,  that  make 
the  house  very  charm- 
ing. For,  even  to  the 
observer  of  the  exterior 
of  a  house,  where  hu- 
man beings  make  their 
home,  there  is  a  dispo- 
sition to  judge  the  char- 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


103 


acter  of  the  front  and  the  general  external  ap- 
pearance with  some  reference  to  a  guess  at  its 
adaptability  for  the  uses  of  those  that  dwell  there- 
in. In  the  adjoining  house  represented  in  the  illus- 
tration, the  approach  is  even  more  indirect,  there 
being  two  angles  in  the  line  of  steps.    The  deep 


pect  of  solidity  with  lightness  and  grace,  a  result 
more  easily  attained,  perhaps,  by  the  judicious 
use  of  the  oriel  and  dormer  window  than  through 
any  other  means. 

A  good  example  of  tasteful  and  attractive 
fronts  may  be  noticed  in  Fifty-seventh  Street, 


porch,  the  massive  bay-window  of  the  first  story,    between  Fifth  and  Madison  Avenues.    Here  the 


the  heavy  window-copings  and  lintels,  and  the 
broad  and  rich  but  simple  decoration  of  the  facade 
combine  to  present  a  pleasant  picture,  full  of 
home-like  suggestions.  In  both  of  these  resi- 
dences there  is  great  individuality  of  taste,  alike  in 
the  general  lines  and  the  treatment  of  ornament. 

In  Madison  Avenue,  near  Fortieth  Street,  the 
eye  is  attracted  by  a  row  of  fine  residences  ad- 
mirably designed  in  their  general  effect,  in  which 
soundness  and  honesty  of  construction  go  hand- 
in-hand  with  picturesqueness  of  style.  The  two 
houses  on  the  right  of  the  illustration  are  pe- 
culiarly noticeable.  The  porches  are  pro- 
tected from  the  street  by  their  guarded 
approaches, 
walled  in  by 
massive  and 
richly -decorat- 
ed stone  balus- 
trades. In  the 
first  example 
the  simply  de- 
signed oriel- 
window  of  the 
second  story  is 
surmounted 
with  vase  -  like 
decorations, 
and  makes  an 
open  balcony 
for  the  thii  1 
story.  The  ad- 
joining house 
is  still  more 
striking  in 
architectural 
character,  from 
the  double  oriel 
front  and  the 
dormer-win- 
dows which 
project  from 
the  attic.  Both 
these  houses 
are  somewhat 
Elizabethan  in 
their  style,  and 
succeed  in  com- 
bining the  as- 


porch  does  not  project,  and  is  entered  directly 
from  the  street,  the  only  distinguishing  feature 
of  the  arched  doorway  being  the  difference  of 
color  in  its  upper  facing.  In  one  of  these  houses 
a  fine  oriel- window,  which  also  furnishes  a  bal- 
cony for  the  second  story,  gives  a  decorative 


Facades,  Madison  Avenue,  near 


Fortieth  Street. 


NK\\   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


effect  to  the  house-front.    Dormer- w indo  vrs  in 

the  iteep  triangular  root,  which  is  laid  in  brighl 
tiles, give  an  additional  effect  of  picturesqueness. 
These  houses  have  a  peculiarly  bright,  open, 
cheerful  look,  which  attracts  the  fancy,  perhaps, 
more  than  would  more  somber  dwellings,  far 
more  elaborate  in  style  and  decoration. 


"a<^ades,  Fitty-seventh  Street,  between  Fifth  and  Madison  Avenues. 


The  new  buildings  of  Columbia  Colic-.  .  hi 
Ifadison  Avenue,  between  Forty-ninth  ; 1 1 j >  1  l"it- 
tieth  Streets,  are  good  specimens  of  the  Kliza- 
betliaii  style,  and  impress  the  mind  pleasantly 
from  the  cheerfulness  of  their  aspect.  Gothic 
windows  in  the  first  -ton.  square  windows 
•bore,  oriels  placed  here  and  there,  and  dormer- 
windows  in  the  roof,  break  up  the  severity  of  the 

front,  and  give  ■  decorative  tied  without  de- 
tracting from  the  clois- 
ter-like air  which  seem-* 
peculiarly  suitahle  to  a 
OOllesje  structure.  Rut- 
tresses  riling  in  pillar- 
forms  high  above  the 
Bares  Of  the  roof  sub- 
divide the  front,  and 
lessen  thai  uniformity 
which  arises  from  a 
]ou;r  succession  of  arch- 
itectural effects  .similar 
in  character.  Some  of 
the  newer  buildings  of 
Vale  and  Harvard  may 
be  more  elaborate  in 
j  their  decorations,  but 
we  know  of  no  college 
structures  in  Americ  a 
in  which  simplicity  end 
N  grace  of  outline  are 
more  appropriately 
dignified  by  ornamen- 
tation, or  better  sug- 
gest the  purpose  and 
nature  of  the  buildings 
themselves.  Columbia 
College  has  only  for  a 
short  time  been  settled 
in  its  new  home,  but 
it  has  just  reason  to  be 
proud  of  its  success  in 
suiting  the  structural 
design  of  a  college, 
while  it  has  added 
buildings  that  dignify 
and  ornament  the  city. 

In  Fifty-seventh 
Street,  west  of  Fifth 
Avenue,  may  be  ad- 
mired a  residence 
which  has  no  superior 
in  New  York  for  rich 
and  elaborate  but  taste- 
-  ful  ornamentation.  It 
begins  with  that  sound 
principle  of  taste  that 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


105 


the  appearance  of  solidity  and  strength  should 
never  be  sacrificed  to  the  purely  decorative  ele- 
ment. This  is  carried  out  from  the  foundation  to 
the  roof,  and  nowhere  do  we  see  a  suggestion  of 
that  finical  style  which  sacrifices  mass  and  dignity 
to  the  mere  art  of  the  stone-cutter.  Yet  the  whole 
facade  presents  a  variety  of  ornamental  effects, 
which  make  the  house  one  of  exceptional  beauty. 
The  first  striking  feature  which  we  notice  is  the 
triangular  oriel,  presumably  the  outlook  of  the 
drawing-room,  which  marks  the  first  story.  This 
projects  so  far  as  to  furnish  a  base  for  the  bay- 
window  of  an  octagonal  shape  on  the  front  of 
the  second  story,  which 
has  also  a  quaint  little 
iron  balcony  running 
out  flush  with  the  outer 
projection  of  the  first 
oriel.  Crowning  this 
bay-window  is  a  large 
and  roomy  stone  bal- 
cony, on  which  the 
elaborately  decorated 
windows  of  the  third 
.story  open.  The  porch 
is  richly  carved,  rising 
in  graceful  lines  to  the 
support  of  a  pretty  bal- 
cony, which  has  a  fine 
Gothic  window-frame 
above.  Dormer  -  win- 
dows surmounted  with 
finials  break  tbe  lines 
of  the  tiled  roof,  and 
complete  a  very  pleas- 
ing ensemble .  The 
basement  of  the  house 
is  massive,  and  fully 
equal  to  carrying  off 
the  richness  of  archi- 
tectural treatment, 
which  makes  the  upper 
stories  so  attractive. 
The  heavy  balustrade 
which  leads  up  to  the 
porch  is  carried  out 
on  the  pavement  in  a 
massive  wall  founda- 
tion surmounted  by  an 
iron  fence  and  stopped 
with  stone  pillars  at 
the  area  entrance.  In 
this  fine  house  we  have 
another  example  of  the 
very  effective  use  of 
different  colored  stone, 


harmoniously  suited  to  produce  a  decorative  ef- 
fect, and  bringing  out  the  essential  beauty  of 
lines  in  more  emphatic  degree. 

Another  house  in  Fifty-seventh  Street,  of 
much  simpler  style,  gives  us  a  good  example  of  a 
second-story  bay-window  effectively  treated.  It 
may  be  assented  that  the  section  of  an  octagon 
is  on  the  whole  the  most 
desirable  form  for  a 
window  of  this  kind,  as 
it  is  not  only  more  orna- 
mental and  symmetrical 
in  appearance,  but  gives 


Facade,  Columbia  College. 


NKW   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


also  fi  more  perfect  outlook  for  the  occupants, 
which  is  the  principal  reason  for  being  of  this 
style  of  construction.  We  shall  refer  to  th»->»- 
features  of  architecture  more  at  length  further 
on,  as  they  make  an  important  element  in  do 
mestic  architecture  in  New  York,  at t .  r  consider 
ing  another  characteristic  of  New  York  houses 
even  more  svi  generic — the  porch. 

Nowhere  in  the  cities  of  the  world  can  be 
found  more  graceful  and  charming  household 
porches  than  those  characterizing  the  best  resi- 
dence streets  of  New  York.  A  pleasant  entrance 
to  a  building,  whether  public  or  private,  is  like 


Facade,  Fifty-seventh  Street  west  of  Fifth  Avenue 


an  agreeable  title  to  a  book,  or  a  beautiful  face- 
in  man  or  woman,  which  immediately  recom- 
mends itself  as  well  as  what  is  behind  it. 

Whether  a  stranger  walk  up  Fifth  Avenue  or 
pass  down  Broadway,  cross  the  side  streets  or 
linger  in  the  squares,  we  think,  if  he  be  from  any 
part  of  Europe,  he  must  be  impressed  by  the 
easy  access  to  all  the  buildings,  indicating  petit 
and  security.  There  is  nowhere  a  trace  of  a 
thought  in  the  builder  of  general  violence,  such 
as  made  the  heavily-clamped  doors  of  Italy 
necessary  as  |  bulwark  against  turbulence  and 
sudden  riot.  Our  little  iron  grating  before  base- 
ment windows,  found  almost  solely  in  New  York, 
bears  small  comparison  with  the  bars  as  big  as  a 
man's  arm,  which  make  every  considerable  struct- 
ure in  Genoa  and  Florence  look  like  a  fortress, 
which  in  fact  it  is,  or  was  when  first  erected. 
Our  porches,  like  our  general  architecture,  have 
their  faults,  but  they  indicate  a  peaceful  condi- 
tion of  society,  and  are  only  strong  enough  to 
resi>t  the  weather  or  a  chance  vagrant.  Our 
porches  thus  express  our  institutions.  The  peace- 
ful character  of  the  entrance  of  our  buildings  to 
a  thoughtful  person  has  the  broadest  and  deepest 
significance,  but  yet  it  touches  little  per  se  on  the 
aesthetic  taste  of  the  people,  except  in  some  of 
the  new  styles  of  porches,  which  are  really  archi- 
tecturally beautiful  and  decorative. 

New  York  porches  are  cheerful,  and  almost 
without  exception  afford  an  idea  of  hospitality 
and  ease,  quite  unlike  the  flat  wings  resembling 
the  doors  of  a  stable  or  coach-house,  level  with 
the  sidewalk,  which  mark  the  entrance  to  every 
house  in  Paris,  except  where  heavy  iron  gates, 
before  an  iron  fence  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high, 
conceal  the  edifice  buried  in  thick  verdure. 

Nothing  can  be  more  dismal  and  forbidding 
than  the  little  dark  doors  all  over  London,  very 
narrow  and  very  low ;  flat  with  the  level  of  the 
house,  and  only  raised  two  or  three  steps  above 
the  level  of  the  sidewalk.    These  doorways  are 
so  inconspicuous  that  they  merge  into  the  gen- 
eral contour  of  the  dark,  soot-colored  brick  wall, 
and  at  night  it  is  only  above  the  door 
itself  that  a  little  half-moon-shaped 
window,  banded  by  an  iron  frame- 
work to  small  panes  of  glass,  shows 
the  pale  lamp  faintly  glimmering,  or 
else  a  lantern  over  the  doorway  marks 
its  position. 

Such  is  the  impression  which  Lon- 
don makes  upon  the  stranger,  and  in 
nearly  every  city  of  Europe  it  is  as  a 
means  of  defense  and  repulsion,  and 
not  of  open-handed  or  open-hearted 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


107 


greeting,  that  the  doorway  seems  to  have  been 
conceived. 

Of  the  position  of  the  doorway  in  the  gen- 
eral outline  of  the  building  there  may  be  grave 
question,  but  its  pleasantness,  per  se,  is  another 
matter.  With  the  impression  fresh  in  mind  of 
the  English,  the  French,  or  the  Italian  prison-like 
barriers  against  the  world  without,  expressed  by 
their  blind  and  unsightly  entrances,  multitudes 
of  New  York  porches  abound  in  grace  and 
cheerfulness.  Passing  along  one  of  our  well- 
tenanted  streets  on  a  spring  morning,  the  sight 
of  its  open  outside-door-leaves  thrown  back,  to 
disclose  the  plate-glass  entrance  to  the  vestibule 
within,  is  most  gay  and  cheering.  Flower-pots 
frequently  abound  here,  or  trailing  vines,  lodged 
upon  the  flat  roof  of  the  stoop  above,  hang  in 
long  pendants  of  green  over  the  brown  archi- 
trave of  stone.  Such  is  the  sight  on  a  warm 
morning;  and  a  mild  evening  witnesses  the 
family  gathered  beneath  its  roof  or  scattered  in 
the  side  balconies.  A  New  York  land- owner 
can  afford  to  set  his  house  a  few  feet  back  in 
his  lot  for  the  sake  of  getting  freer  breathing- 
space  in  a  widened  street  in  front,  and  less  noise 
and  dust  than  a  closer  proximity  to  the  thorough- 
fare would  give  him ;  and,  above  all,  for  the 
sake  of  having  his  handsome  out-door  little  room 
or  loggia  in  his  projecting  porch. 

"We  shall  now  give  some  examples  of  New 
York  doorways,  both  in  public  and  private  build- 
ings, where  the  type  has  been  modified  in  ac- 
cordance with  individual  taste,  and  the  main 
fact  of  a  porch  is  combined  with  ideas  less  trite 
than  are  shown  in  the  work  of  ordinary  build- 
ing contractors. 

Nowhere  are  ingenuity  and  good  taste  in  this 
respect  better  exemplified  than  in  some  of  the 
new  buildings  erected  by  banks  and  other  cor- 
porations down-town.  There  has  been  a  decided 
tendency  of  late  years  among  companies,  who 
have  been  highly  successful  in  their  business  op- 
erations, to  commemorate  their  business  achieve- 
ments by  the  erection  of  magnificent  structures,  j 
unique  in  their  design  as  well  as  lavish  in  their 
costliness.  Some  passing  glance  at  these,  be- 
fore studying  further  the  characteristics  of  do- 
mestic architecture,  will  be  of  interest  to  our 
readers. 

In  Wall  Street,  below  Broad,  the  Queen  In- 
surance Company  has  erected  one  of  the  most 
noticeable  business  structures  in  New  York. 
Stone  and  marble  of  different  colors  have  been 
freely  used,  and  the  effect  is  very  rich  and  agree- 
able, but  not  meretricious.  The  ornament  is  not 
frittered  away  in  detail,  but  carried  out  with 


Porch  and  Window,  Fifty-seventh  Street,  west  of  Fifth  Avenue. 


great  breadth,  though  elaborate  in  treatment. 
The  conception  of  massiveness  and  dignity,  which 
is  so  essential  to  any  great  building  devoted  to 
business  uses,  is  thus  preserved,  while  the  eye 
is  delighted  by  broken  lines  and  brilliant  though 
harmonious  contrasts  of  color.  The  architect  of 
this  fine  building  must  have  had  something  of  the 
painter's  sense,  so  successful  has  he  been  in  pre- 
serving genuinely  artistic  combination  of  color  in 
the  use  of  material,  while  keeping  in  view  the 
purposes  of  the  structure. 

Low,  broad  steps  lead  to  the  doorway,  the 
whole  construction  of  which  is  admirable.  The 
porch  is  heavy  and  massive,  overhung  with  a 
richly  decorated  Gothic  arch.  This  rests  on 
short  pillars,  Corinthian  in  style,  of  variegated 
red  marble,  and  the  latter  are  again  supported  on 
buttress-like  pilasters,  carved  with  the  peculiar 
Corinthian  decoration.    Pillars  resting  on  but- 


L08 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED 


Porches  in  Wall  Street,  below  Broad. 


tresses  also  decorate  the  window-facings,  and 
carry  out  the  general  design.  The  marked  feat- 
ures of  this  building  are  the  beauty  and  origi- 
nality of  the  porch  and  the  effective  use  of  color 
in  architecture,  and,  for  this  reason,  single  it  out 
as  one  of  the  most  striking  types  of  the  tenden- 
cies of  architectural  art  in  our  midst.  The  great 
activity  of  property-owners  in  the  business  por- 
tions of  New  York  in  tearing  down  old  buildings, 
many  of  them  still  fine  structures,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  erecting  new  ones,  will  probably  soon 
decorate  the  city  with  many  business  buildings, 
no  less  beautiful  in  design  and  treatment  than 
the  noble  quarters  of  the  Queen  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

Another  striking  example  of  the  decorated 
porch  in  the  business  building  may  be  seen  on 
the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Beekman  Streets.  The 


Morse  Building  is 
of  red,  pressed  brick, 

and  is  remarkable  for 
its  deration  and  mas- 

sivencs.  lis  architect- 
Ural  beauty,  however, 
is  principally  observ- 
able in  the  treatment 

of  the  porch  and  win- 
dows. The  round  arch 
of  the  doorway  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  triangu- 
lar pediment,  and  the 

elaborately  carved  bat? 

trcssi-s  that  frame  in 
the  porch  give  great 
dignity  to  its  genera] 

effect.  Whjle  Lingering 
;tt  this  impressive  st re<  I 
corner,  one  is  reminded 
of  the  fact  that  brick 
is  coming  more  and 
more  into  vogue  again 
in  New  York.  Fifty 
years  ago  this  material 
was  the  favorite  among 
builders  and  architects,- 
and  justly  soon  account 
Of  its  great  adaptability 
For  decorative  purposes, 
its  richness  of  color,  and 
its  indestructibility. 
Brown-stone  then  be- 
came the  rage,  and  has 
since  been  the  most 
popular  material. 
Beautiful  a9  freestone 
is  in  texture,  and  ad- 
mirably as  it  takes  the  carver's  tools,  its  liabil- 
ity to  flake  off,  crack,  and  become  disfigured  by 
dirty  weather-stains,  has  always  been  an  objec- 
tion to  it.  One  may  see  whole  squares  of  fine 
buildings  in  Fifth  Avenue  and  other  streets, 
where  the  surface  of  the  stone  has  been  so 
gnawed  and  honey-cornbed  by  time  and  weather 
as  to  present  a  most  unsightly  aspect.  The  Con- 
necticut sandstone,  which  is  the  best,  has  be- 
come so  expensive  on  account  of  the  great  dif- 
ficulty of  working  it,  that  people  erecting  houses 
have  been  tempted  to  try  other  poorer  quarries, 
and  the  result  may  be  seen  in  many  a  disfigured 
and  ugly  front. 

Many  good  effects  are  produced  when  in 
English-basement  houses  a  square,  projecting 
porch,  wide  and  deep,  rises  but  a  foot  or  two 
above  the  sidewalk,  and  is  made  to  unite  and 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


109 


form  into  the  main  line  of  the  facade,  by  a  small  j 
bay-window  in  the  second  story  extending  so  as 
partially  to  occupy  its  flat  roof.  Bay-windows, 
especially  when  they  extend  as  sections  of  an 
octagon,  are  among  the  most  graceful  and  elegant 
features  of  house  convenience  and  beauty ;  and 
when,  as  in  one  of  these  that  we  recall,  just  out 
of  Fifth  Avenue,  the  extension  is  so  shallow  as 
to  allow  of  a  little  balcony  to  intervene  between 
its  French  windows  and  the  projecting  top  of 
the  porch,  its  bright-green  plants  and  shining 
plate-glass  windows  are  pleasant  and  elegant. 
The  essential  point  that  should  be  striven  for  is 
to  place  porches  quite  low  in  the  line  of  the 
house-fronts.  The  slight  difference  between  the 
elevation  of  the  flight  of  steps  that  may  be  seen 
in  the  houses  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Eighteenth  Street,  and  the  narrower,  higher, 
steeper  ones  of  their  neigh- 
bors, will  convince  most  peo- 
ple of  the  instinctive  feeling 
of  agreeableness  which  one 
derives  from  a  low-settic ; 
porch.  With  the  compara- 
tively great  height  of  New 
York  houses,  the  proportion- 
ate size  of  the  foundation 
should  be  commensurate,  but 
in  such  cases  it  ought,- to  have 
an  aesthetic  effect,  to  be  ap- 
parently concealed,  as,  for 
instance,  by  the  broad  and 
broken  line  of  side-steps,  for 
the  same  reason  that  we  bank 
up  or  terrace  over  the  cellar- 
walls  of  our  homes  in  the 
country.  The  porch  of  Trin- 
ity School,  in  Twenty-fifth 
Street,  is  an  excellent  exam- 
ple of  this  arrangement.  A 
good  specimen  of  the  oppo- 
site of  this  class  of  faults  is 
afforded  by  the  excessive  size 
and  undue  covering  up  of  the 
lower  story  of  the  Academy  of 
Design,  whose  porch  is  large 
enough  and  whose  rising  steps 
are  broad  enough  for  a  build- 
ing of  double  its  height  and 
double  its  size.  The  illustra- 
tion we  give  affords  a  very  ____ 
good  idea  of  this  section  of  "~ 
the  building.  The  porch  and 
stairway  are  fine  in  them- 
selves, and  from  the  color  and 
detailed  ornament  of  theirma- 


terials  are  still  more  striking.  All  who  have  seen 
it  will  remember  the  very  imposing  Giant's  Stair- 
case which  leads  from  the  pavement  to  the  pre- 
miere Stage  of  the  Ducal  Palace  at  Venice.  Large 
and  ponderous  in  detail,  it  is  yet  strictly  in  keep- 
ing with  the  length  and  height  of  a  building  on 
whose  general  style  the  National  Academy  was 
professedly  constructed.  Our  thoughtful  archi- 
tects build  for  the  future,  and  it  wras  in  antici- 
pation of  the  time  when  the  Academy-wall  might 
be  continued  to  Twenty-fourth  Street,  and  take 
in  a  much  larger  section  between  Fourth  and 
Madison  Avenues,  that  this  doorway,  w'ith  its 
high,  pointed  top,  its  pleasant  marbles,  and  its 
careful  carvings,  was  constructed.  At  present, 
however,  the  building  seems  rather  an  appendage 
of  the  front  door,  than  the  latter  to  afford  an 
opening  to  an  important  interior. 


Porch  of  Morse  Building,  Nassau,  corner  of  Beekman  Street. 


1  10 


NEW   YORK  ILLrSTRATED. 


The  porch  of  the  Dry  Dock  Savings- Hank, 

wliich  is  attached  to  one  of  tin-  most,  interesting 
buildings  in  New  fork,  shares  with  the  rest  of 
the  structure  the  advantage  of  having  been 
planned  by  a  very  able  and  imaginative  archi- 
tect. This  is  no  exception  to  the  rule  of  the 
agreeableness  of  a  porch  that  stands  low  with 

the  side-wall.    Placed  at  an  angle  of  the  Bowery 


Entrance  to  the  Academy  of  Design. 

which  allows  the  main  wall  to  recede  from  the 
street,  a  corner  is  formed  for  this  porch,  which 
enables  it  to  project  twelve  feet  or  more,  and 
not  interfere  with  the  line  of  the  sidewalk.  The 
porch,  with  a  second  story  added  to  it,  forms  a 
dignified  feature  of  the  structure,  and  it  other- 
wise would  be  insignificant  and  trivial  if  com- 
posed only  of  a  little  square  projection  from  a 
long  and  high  facade.    Its  upper  story  gives  it 


presence,  and  it  is  besides  very  suggestive  in  itfl 
details.  In  the  same  way  that  the  minute  carv- 
ings of  ivy-leaves,  oaks,  and  woodbine,  are  an 
agreeable  study  in  the  pillars  and  iron  railing  of 
the  Academy  of  Design,  so  the  lace-like  tracery 
to  the  gray  sandstone  above  the  arches  and 
above  the  columns  of  the  porch  of  the  Savings- 
Hank  is  highly  grateful.  In  this  Moorish-Ara- 
besque work,  the  taste  of  the  architect,  who  has 
made  this  tracery  an  attractive  feature  of  the  in- 
trocesst-d  arched  doors  of  th<  Jewish  temple  in 
Fifth  Avenue,  is  conspicuous. 

Hut  while  the  doors  of  New  York  houses 
form  the  most  numerous  class  of  pleasant,  con- 
venient, or  cheerful  entrances,  though  mixed 
with  plenty  of  poor  ones,  the 
churches  of  the  city  give  the 
best  opportunity  for  the  dis- 
play of  the  experience  and 
taste  of  the  builder.  We  have 
said  that,  if  it  were  possible, 
'  the  porch  should  form  a  dig- 
nified architectural  section  of 
each  building,  which  these 
little  square  extensions,  with 
their  breaking  line  of  steps, 
do  not  always  fulfill.  Every 
one  familiar,  either  in  real- 
ity or  by  photographs,  with 
the  great  churches  of  Europe, 
will  recall  how  often  the  lofty 
arch  of  the  main  entrance 
glides  in  structural  effect  into 
the  contours  of  the  big,  round 
window  above  it,  whose 
framework  and  decorations 
in  their  turn  form  part  of  the 
rising  lines  which  end  in  the 
pointed  front  of  the  majestic 
edifice.  This  idea,  we  think,  is 
the  right  one,  and  the  door- 
ways of  some  of  our  own 
churches  bear  out  this  rela- 
tion. Many  of  these,  and  es- 
pecially the  Gothic  ones,  have 
doorways  which  begin  a  se- 
ries of  breaks  to  a  receding 
wall  of  a  high  tower,  as  may  be  seen  particu- 
larly in  the  two  on  Fifth  Avenue  between  For- 
tieth and  Fiftieth  Streets.  The  new  Catholic 
Cathedral  carries  out  the  intention  of  the  Eu- 
ropean church-door  fully,  and  its  very  high, 
arched  entrance,  so  rich  in  carved  detail  and  in 
clustered  columns,  seems  a  fitting  support,  with 
the  heavy  pillars  that  form  the  sides  of  the  arches, 
to  the  great  carved-stone  window-frame  above  it. 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


Ill 


Of  pleasant  church-doors,  that  of  the  Church  of 
the  Heavenly  Rest,  in  Fifth  Avenue  near  Forty- 
fifth  Street,  of  which  we  give  an  illustration,  is 
one  of  the  most  elegant ;  constructed  largely  of 
colored  marbles,  polished  and  carved,  its  broad, 
low,  front  porch  and  its  rich  color  make  it  a  con- 
spicuous ornament  to  the  avenue. 

The  new  buildings  of  the  city  present  most 
frequently  interesting  doors,  but  in  some  of  the 
oldest  structures  of  New  York  we  find  agreeable 
objects  to  contemplate.    The  shallow  Grecian 
porch,  which  characterizes  some  of  our  old-fash- 
ioned houses,  has  been  condemned  by  many,  but 
it  has  a  certain  austere  cheerfulness  of  its  own 
not  to  be  overlooked ;  and  strolling  along  busy 
Broadway  at  noon,  or  after  the  sun  has  length- 
ened the  shadows  on  the  tall  stores  that  surround 
it,  the  weather-beaten  front  of  St.  Paul's  is  full 
of  pleasant  associations,  with  its  brown  walls,  its 
white-marble  memorial  tablets,  and  the  carved 
bass-reliefs  above  it,  now  subdued  and  softened 
by  time.    It  has  an  interest  to  the  antiquarian 
and  the  artist  that  is  absent  from  many  a  newer 
structure.    Houses,  too,  not  yet  very  old,  have 
a  pleasantness  all  their  own.    Open  garden- lots 
between  Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  Streets  in 
Fourth  Avenue,  in  the  back  of  which,  on  either 
side  of  the  avenue,  stand  old 
fashioned,  comfortable  dwell- 
ings, whose  iron  balconies 
make  one  of  the  most  agree- 
able features  about  them, 
on°er  a  pleasant  rustic  picture 
to  the  eye.   Extending  across 
the  width  of  these  ample 
fronts,   the   verandas  with 
their  roofs,  and  partially  cov- 
ered with  iro-i  trellis- work, 
half  veil  alike  the  long  French 
windows  which   open  out 
upon  the  balcony,  and  shield 
the  front  door  from  too  cu- 
rious eyes.    The  door-steps 
are  quite  low  and  few,  and 
the  slight  height  of  the  base- 
ment is  hidden  from  observa- 
tion by  the  extended  iron- 
work and  by  low  shrubs. 

The  conventional  "high 
stoop,"  which  is  found  in  so 
many  New  York  houses,  is 
peculiar  to  the  city.  In  the 
expensive  houses  in  Fifth  Av- 
enue and  its  cross-streets,  the 
old-fashioned  stoop  has  been 
modified  and  elaborated  into 


a  roomy  and  imposing  porch,  generally  supported 
by  Corinthian  pillars,  the  architrave, -fringe,  and 
cornice  above  being  of  the  same  style.    As  this 


Porch  of  trinity  School,  Twenty-fifth  Street. 


112 


NET*   YORK  [LLUSTRATED. 


stoop  is  higher  than  it  was  in  the  original  from 

which  it  is  descended,  it  has  a  questionable  feat- 
ure in  the  necessity  it  involves  for  a  long  row  of 
steps  rising  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  to  connect  the 
homestead  with  the  outer  world.  When,  how- 
ever, the  steps  and  balustrade  are  so  arranged  BJ 

to  form  an  important  feature  in  the  lower  struct- 
ure of  the  wall,  it  only  needs  that  the  front 
doors  should  he  placed  together  by  pairs,  to 
double  the  pleasant  break  in  the  appearance  of ' 


Porch  of  the  Dry-Dock  Savings-Bank. 


the  foundation,  and  to  remove  the  sense  of  awk- 
rardness  and  unfitness  which  one  DM  in  MUT6J 
ing  the  ordinary  big])  BtOOfV 

An  excellent  example  of  a  doori  t]  with  side* 

*ep«  may  be  seen  in  gait  Thirty-sixth  Street 
The  balustrade  facing  the  street  gives  a  slight 
sense  of  privacy,  while  the  top  of  the  projecting 
roof  of  the  porch  form-  an  up-stairs  balcoin 
pleasant  in  its  suggestion  as  a  small  sitting-room 
evenings,  and  is  as  important  in  giving 
dignity  and  mate  to  the  porch  as  a 
heavy  Grecian  architrave  would  be. 
There  are  a  good  many  varieties  of 
!  In  se  side-steps  in  the  city.  Where 
we  find  them  in  a  botUM  on.  a  corner 
lot,  which  gives  opportunities  Cor 

pleasantly  arranged  end- windows,  and 
also  in  many  cases  for  a  little  strip  of 
sodded  yard  to  skid  the  lion-.  ,  the 
effect  i-  peculiarly  agreeable.  In  one 
house  of  this  description,  the  building 
does  not  occupy  the  entire  width  of 
the  lot,  and  the  Steps  and  opening  in 
a  stone  balustrade  begin  ten  or  twelve 
feet  to  the  side  of  the  front  porch. 
Rising  from  the  sidewalk  by  three 
or  four  low  steps,  a  square  platform 
makes  an  agreeable  landing  half  way 
up,  and,  at  right  angles  to  the  others, 
a  few  more  stairs  bring  the  visitor  to 
the  broad  platform  of  stone  beneath 
the  projecting  roof  of  the  front  door- 
way. Such  an  arrangement,  with  its 
turning  aud  its  broken  line,  adds  to 
the  sense  of  space  about  a  dwelling, 
and,  while  the  reason  is  aware  that 
the  house  is  really  at  the  usual  dis- 
tance from  the  sidewalk,  fancy  cheats 
the  feelings,  as  it  does  in  the  multi- 
tude of  windings  in  Central  Park, 
when  we  believe  that  Ave  have  gone 
a  long  distance  even  where  we  can 
see  that  the  path  we  quitted  ten  min- 
utes ago  is  only  two  or  three  rods 
from  us.  It  is  said  that  the  hearth 
and  the  front  door  are  the  strong 
points  of  pleasure  and  pride  to  every 
housewife,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that, 
with  the  revival  of  the  open  fire,  the 
importance  of  a  cheerful,  a  beautiful, 
and  an  easy  entrance  to  the  hospitable 
home  will  be  generally  recognized. 

The  striking  use  of  towers  and 
windows  as  a  feature  of  architectural 
decoration  among  the  newer  houses 
erected  in  the  fashionable  streets  of 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


113 


New  York  can  not  fail  to  impress  every  be- 
holder, some  descriptive  allusion  to  which  has 
been  previously  made.    The  house  on  the  corner 
of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty -seventh  Street,  one  of 
the  largest  and  finest  in  New 
York,  may  be  cited  as  a  no- 
ticeable example.  The  build- 
ing itself  is  of  red  brick,  and, 
occupying  several    lots  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  extends  back 
to  the  full  depth  of  a  lot  or 
more  on  the  side  street.  It 
stands  immediately  opposite 
the  costly  Vanderbilt  man- 
sion, which  has  already  been 
described.  It  is  a  little  with- 
drawn from  the  line  of  the 
street,   and   this   serves  to 
heighten  the  effect  of  its  va- 
rious stories.    It  is  of  irreg- 
ular elevation,    and  termi- 
nates in  some  portions  with 
large    Elizabethan  gables, 
whose  pointed  roofs  cover 
four  tiers  of  windows  from 
the  pavement  to  the  top. 
Another  section  of  the  house 
is  one  story  high,  and  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  big  glass  con- 
servatory with  a  circular  roof. 
The  little  oriel- window, 
which  projects  from  the  fa- 
cade on  Fifth  Avenue,  is  itself 
graceful  and  pretty  enough 
to  give  elegance  to  an  abode 
of  which  it  were  the  sole  or- 
nament.   Throughout  this 
house  its  variously  grouped  windows  of  different 
size  are  enriched  by  brown  freestone  copings 
and  ornaments  carved  in  flower  or  leaf  forms, 
and  from  its  very  broad,  round-topped  front 
door  to  some  little  windows  scarcely  larger  than 
port-holes  in  the  main  wall,  it  appears  as  if  the 
architect  had  exhausted  his  ingenuity  to  give  va- 
riety and  piquancy  to  what  looks  like  an  Ameri- 
canized French  chateau. 

The  tower  which  forms  the  northwestern 
corner  of  the  dwelling  is  as  picturesque  as  the 
oriel- window,  and,  while  its  real  structure  is 
merely  an  extension  of  the  ordinary  rooms  of 
the  house  in  the  section  which  it  covers,  its  little 
pointed,  round  roof  gives  a  variety  to  an  ordinary 
bay-vrindow  vastly  more  pleasing  and  impressive 
from  this  change  of  apparent  purpose.  To  the 
many-varied  forms  of  this  tasteful  mansion  the 
architect  has  added  massed  and  stacked  chim- 
8 


neys,  which,  usually  dotted  about  in  insignificant 
points  on  many  American  houses,  are  so  ugly, 
but  which,  used  with  effect,  are  so  great  an  or- 
nament, with  their  broad,  flat  surfaces  adding 


Porch  of  Church  of  Heavenly  Rest,  Fifth  Avenue,  near  Forty-fifth  Street. 


importance  to  a  side-wall,  or  breaking  the  mo- 
notony of  a  dull  line  of  roof.  Nature  herself  is 
more  fertile  than  human  art  in  covering  up  and 
converting  the  baldness  of  her  uses  by  the  pink 
light  on  a  rain-cloud,  or  the  purple  beauty  of 
rocky  crags ;  and  the  soft  haze  which  rests  upon 
a  landscape  gives  fully  as  deep  a  joy  as  the 
thought  that  its  moisture  is  reviving  grass  or 
flowers.  The  satisfaction  which  is  felt  in  honest 
structural  forms  may  be  carried  too  far,  if,  for 
example,  it  disdains  those  trivial  graces  and 
slight  additions  which  would  convert  a  recess 
in  an  apartment  into  such  an  oriel-window  as 
we  have  placed  before  our  readers,  or  form  a 
series  of  such  addition  into  the  elegant  finish 
of  a  graceful  tower. 

On  the  north  side  of  Fifty-seventh  Street, 
near  Fifth  Avenue,  stands  a  house  showing  a 
peculiarly  effective  oriel-window.    As  there  is 


114 


Ni:\\   rOEK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Old-style  Doorways. 


a  forcible  suggestion  of  home  comfort  and  do- 
mestic ease  in  a  roomy  porch 
there  is  no  particular  architectural  effect  aimed 
at,  the  appearance  of  a  projecting  window  to 


the  sitting-room,  sunny  and  filled  with  flower- 
so,  even  where  I  pots,  or  of  the  wide  and  light  children's  nurs- 
ery window,  or  a  little  balcony  or  vine-eov.  r.  d 
1  piazza,  has  a  happy  or  tender  suggestion  quite 
different  from  anything  that 
1  appeals  to  the  artistic  sense 

i  or  the  intellectual  apprecia- 

tion. The  bay-window  of 
our  illustration  is  of  this 
class.  Built  above  the  door 
and  first-story  windows,  it 
makes  one  of  a  number  of 
somewhat  similar  projections 
extending  along  the  brown- 
stone  line  of  houses  on  the 
north  side  of  this  street.  Rus- 
kin  speaks  much  of  the  pict- 
aresqueness  of  irregularity : 
and  in  such  edifices  as  the 
Dry  Dock  Savings-Bank,  or 
the  new  Court-House  in  Sixth 
Avenue  at  the  corner  of  Tenth 
Street,  the  odds  and  ends  of 
corners,  gables,  or  recesses, 
are  powerful  points  of  effect, 
designed  by  the  architect. 
But,  outside  of  this  intel- 
lectual arrangement  of  forms 
that  appeals  directly  to  the 
eye  and  the  imagination, 
there  are  at  present,  scat- 
tered all  about  the  United 


A  Fifth  Avenue  Porch. 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


115 


States,  irregularities  in 
building  that  are  traceable 
wholly  to  the  needs  and 
conveniences  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  need  of  piazzas, 
the  convenience  of  bigger 
rooms,  and  the  tradition 
of  the  advantage  of  sun- 
shine, have  led  everywhere 
to  ugly  or  pretty  exten- 
sions, as  the  case  may  be ; 
and  such  additions  cover 
all  classes  of  buildings,  from 
the  little  square  porch  of 
the  day-laborer  to  such 
elaborate  and  costly  struct- 
ures as  this  carved  and 
variegated  bay-window  in 
one  of  the  best  rows  of 
New  York  houses.  As  in- 
dications of  the  needs  of 
our  people,  these  archi- 
tectural features  are  desir- 
able, and  by-and-by  their 
forms,  not  always  now 
pleasing  and  artistic,  will 
spring  naturally  from  the 
taste  and  discrimination  of 
our  people,  and  architects 
of  skill  will  shape  this  taste 
into  beauty  and  symmetry  as  a  rule,  just  as 
they  have  done  already  in  a  number  of  excep- 


Porch  in  East  Thirty-sixth  Street. 


Porch  in  Fifth  Avenue. 

tional  cases.    So  American  city  architecture  may 
be  made  as  appropriate  for  America  as  the  old 
palaces  of  Venice  are  for 
Italy.    In  the  mean  time  we 

_   may  be  thankful  for  such 

artistic  treatment  of  the 
bay-window  as  we  show  in 
several  of  the  illustrations  of 
this  book. 

A  pretty  window  belongs 
to  a  house  in  Thirty-fourth 
Street  near  Fifth  Avenue. 
The  house  has  a  narrow 
front  and  is  four  stories 
high,  surrounded  by  build- 
ings larger  than  itself.  The 
second  story  of  this  dwell- 
ing is  covered  by  a  deep 
and  wide  balcony  made  of 
brown-stone,  that  occupies 
nearly  its  entire  width ;  and 
the  third  story  to  which 
the  window  in  the  picture 
belongs  is  almost  concealed 
by  equally  heavy  balconies. 
Here  we  find  an  example  of 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


the  fact  that  details  good  in  themselves  may  tail  in 
their  object  by  too  great  or  too  little  prominence. 
This  window  with  its  accompanying  balcony  is 
elegant,  with  graceful  carving,  and  the  window 
with  its  cheerful  draperies  is  played  on  by  the 
sunlight,  whose  dappled  sheen  alternately  brings 
into  relief  the  little  stone  leaves  of  the  ornaments, 
or  the  projecting  angles,  or  pillars  or  balls  on  the 
balcony.  Yet  the  effect  is  greatly  lost  because 
the  structural  form  of  the  house  Ls  entirely  cov- 
ered up  and  lost  sight  of  by  the  fringes  and  ruffles 
of  stone  drapery  that  overhang  and  overlap  the 
corners  and  the  main  entrance ;  and,  while  one 
or  at  most  two  such  bits  of  decoration  as  this 
would  give  life  and  vivacity  to  a  house-front,  the 
ornament  repeated  and  piled  one  above  another 
becomes  tedious.  The  little  window  that  would 
suggest  home-like  comfort  or  cheerful  society  i- 
shorn  of  its  charm  by  the  thought  that  it  is  not 
a  circle  of  friends  or  a  family  group  who  would 
enjoy  it  of  a  warm  evening,  or  that  it  is  ever  the 


Porch,  Thirty-ninth  Street,  east  of  Park  Avenue. 


gathering-place  for  children  tired  of  their  nurs- 
ery. In  this  multiplicity  of  balconies  all  feeling 
of  sociability  is  destroyed,  and  such  places  are 


only  tit  for  the  gathering  of  groups  to  witness 
processions,  or  as  the  outlet  for  crowded  ball-., 
or  they  merely  show  an  ostentatious  love  of  dis- 
play in  the  owner,  or  a  poor,  half-developed 
taste  in  the  architect. 

There  is,  probably,  no  question  which  so  taxes 
the  invention  of  the  architect  as  what  he  shall 
make  the  main  feature  of  one  of  our  narrow  city 
hou>es,  whose  owner  expects  from  it  a  combi- 
nation of  originality  and  attractiveness.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  public,  the  time  for  contract- 
planned  houses,  each  as  like  the  other  iis  peas 
in  a  pod,  is  now  largely  superseded  by  designs 
that  at  lea.st  indicate  thought  on  the  part  of  the 
man  who  planned  them;  and  so  we  see  house 
after  house  springing  into  existence,  with  a  pe- 
culiar tower  on  one,  a  strange  ornament  on  an- 
other, or,  as  in  the  example  of  the  house  in 
East  Thirty-seventh  Street,  a  large  gable,  that 
projects  only  enough  to  show  that  it  is  a  gable, 
relieves  the  flatness  of  the  general  wall,  and 
separates  this  hou«e  as  an 
individual  structure  from 
the  mass  of  its  neighbors. 

This  house,  which  is  situ- 
ated at  a  short  distance  from 
Madison  Avenue,  is  a  brick 
building,  covering  two  lots 
in  its  width,  the  red  color  of 
which  alternates  with  a  gray 
freestone  in  large  masses 
about  its  lower  story.  Many 
of  our  readers  are  familiar 
with  the  beams,  horizontal 
and  transverse,  that  show 
the  structure  at  the  same 
time  that  they  compose  the 
decoration  of  the  old  gable- 
ends  of  roofs  in  the  ancient 
cities  of  Europe.  Between 
such  beams  in  Chester  in 
England,  in  Beauvais  in 
France,  as  well  as  in  a  mul- 
titude of  similar  cities  and 
towns,  yellow  stucco,  broken 
and  moss-grown,  yet  clings 
to  rough  stone  or  brick 
walls  that  compose  the  edi- 
fice. Decayed  timber  in 
these  beams  often  presents 
the  picturesque  and  worm- 
eaten  appearance  of  age, 
while  the  projecting  eaves  of 
the  stone  roofs  alternately  shadow  or  illumine 
such  ends  of  houses,  when  the  sunshine  lights  up 
the  vellow  or  brown  lichens  that  cover  them,  or 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


117 


dims  the  recessed  wall,  dreary  unless  enlivened 
by  the  presence  of  pigeons  or  swallows.  Here 
in  America  we  have  little  chance  to  see  these 
time-worn  and  time-beautified  edifices,  unless  it 
be  in  some  old  dwelling  in  a  Dutch  town  of  New 
York  State,  and,  instead  of  the  architectural  va- 
riety of  aspect  afforded  by  the  old  network-like 
timbers  on  these  gable-ends,  the  architect  falls 
back  upon  such  ornament  or  variety  as  the  ma- 
terials to  his  hand  afford  him.  The  most  con- 
venient and  easy  method  of  decoration  is  reached 
in  America  at  the  present  time  through  the  use 
of  variously-colored  stone,  or  of  bricks,  either  in 
fiat  vaults,  or  with  their  ends  fitted  edgewise 
to  the  angles  of  the  main  wall.  The  architect 
of  the  pretty  and  original  facade  of  the  house 
in  Thirty-seventh  Street  has  availed  himself  of 
these  mural  decorations,  and  we  see  in  the  con- 
cave-pointed roof,  with  its  one  window,  several 
tiers  of  black  bricks,  forming  a  tooth-shaped 
ornament,  and  this  gable  is  separated  from  the 
story  below  it  by  an  elaborate  row  of  gray  carved 


4 


Tower— Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-seventh  Street. 

stones.  The  next  story  of  the  gable,  whose  front 
is  broken  by  a  group  of  three  windows  in  the 
center,  is  in  its  turn  relieved  by  another  broad 


!  ornament  of  tessellated  black  brickwork,  and 
:  this  story  in  its  turn  is  marked  off  by  stone-carv- 
ing.   The  second  floor  of  the  house  exhibits  one 


Oriel-Window — Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-seventh  Street. 

window  embellished  by  the  gray-stone  balcony 
that  forms  at  the  same  time  a  pretty  finish  to  a 
bay-window  that  composes  the  lower  section  of 
this  gable.  The  gable  projection  occupies  rather 
more  than  half  the  width  of  the  house,  and  is 
bounded  on  either  side  by  a  narrow,  flat  wall 
with  one  window  group  in  each  story,  and  with 
a  small  bay-window  in  the  second  story  domi- 
nating the  front  door. 

In  New  York,  the  eye  jumps  from  a  Sara- 
cenic temple,  like  the  Temple  Emanuel  in  Fifth 
Avenue,  to  a  Gothic  cathedral  like  St.  Patrick's, 
or  to  a  French  chateau  like  that  at  the  corner 
of  Fifty-seventh  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  Di- 
rectly opposite  the  latter  building,  on  the  east 


118 


NKW   YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


as  one  drives  toward  the  Arc 
du  Trlomphe  or  along  the  Rue 


side  of  Fifth  Avenue,  rises  a  white-marble  pile.  I  de  Rivoli,  impress  the  beholder  as  belonging  to 
looking  not  unlike  many  of  the  aristocratic  |  a  city  of  palaces, 
houses  of  Paris. 


The  style  of  this  pile,  extending 
from  Fifty-sixth  to  Fifty-seventh 
street,  is  very  ornate,  but,  compared 
with  the  Corinthian,  the  Doric,  and 
the  Renaissance  style  of  ornament 
so  profusely  superimposed  upon 
most  of  the  plain  flat  blocks  of 
houses  all  over  our  city,  its  propor- 
tions smooth  themselves  out  into 
simple  masses  that  please  if  they  do 
not  entirely  satisfy  the  eye.  Few 
residences  in  New  York  present 
such  great  architectural  complete- 
ness as  this  series.  Extending  with 
a  very  long  front  on  Fifth  Avenue 
and  on  the  side-street,  the  building 
has  the  mass  and  the  proportions 
of  a  public  edifice.  Its  high  square 
corners  rise  much  above  the  re- 
maining portion  of  the  roof,  and 
present  the  effect  of  massive  tow- 
ers, while  the  symmetrical  disposi- 
tion of  the  windows  and  colonnades 
increases  its  appearance  of  unity. 
The  new  houses  of  Paris  which 


Stand  upon  the  boulevards  are  COn-  Gable— East  Thirty-seventh  Street 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES. 


119 


There  is,  however,  a  certain  tedium  in  this 
unending  stateliness,  this  continuous  splendor. 
The  little  palaces  mingled  with  big  ones,  with 
different  ornament  and  varied  roofs,  that  charm 
the  eye  and  excite  the  imagination  by  their 
unique  design  in  Venice,  have  always  the  stimu- 
lus of  novelty,  and  have  none  of  the  appearance 
of  being  turned  out  by  wholesale,  or  by  gigantic 


machinery,  that  is  so  wearisome  in  avenues  like 
the  Boulevard  Haussmann.  To  those  who  be- 
lieve that  the  ideal  of  such  a  street  as  Fifth  Ave- 
nue would  be  completed  when,  by  the  gradual 
survival  of  the  fittest,  the  separated  brown-stone 
houses  have  all  gradually  disappeared,  to  give 
place  to  blocks  crowned  with  towers,  or  where 
one  elegant  and  varied  roof  should  suffice  to 


Mansard-Roof — Fifth  Avenue,  corner  Fifty-sixth  Street. 


cover  many  residences  whose  proportions  have 
relation  to  one,  general  effect,  such  a  structure 
as  this  would  be  a  model.  The  white-marble 
house  in  Fifth  Avenue  is  of  such  a  character, 
and,  while  the  divisions  and  doors  that  mark 
it  as  the  house  of  many  families  are  not  at  all 
conspicuous,  this  stately  building  is  distinct  of 
its  kind  in  the  whole  length  of  the  avenue. 

A  pretty  and  simple  specimen  of  the  tower 
is  that  of  Trinity  Church  School,  which  is  a  not 
very  conspicuous  feature  of  the  large  brown- 
stone  building  seen  across  the  graveyard  of  Trin- 
ity Church.  It  is  a  picturesque  pile,  and  re- 
minds one  of  some  English  college-building  with 
its  multiplicity  of  Gothic  mullioned  windows. 
The  tower  rises  only  slightly  above  the  edifice, 


but  its  long  gargoyles,  extending  far  over  the 
sides,  are  quite  conspicuous  even  from  Broadway. 
In  spite  of  the  insignificance  of  its  situation,  it 
commands  attention  and  interest.  As  the  spec- 
tator looks  at  it  from  Broadway,  crowded  with 
vehicles  and  foot-passengers,  a  quiet  and  pictu- 
resque repose  lingers  about  the  walls  of  the  se- 
cluded building,  and  its  charming,  quaint  little 
tower  gives  a  peculiar  Old- World  appearance  to 
its  aspect. 

It  is  pleasant  to  find  in  a  monotonous  line  of 
freestone  houses  with  their  Greek  porticoes  and 
high  stoops  the  occurrence  of  an  occasional  break. 
The  pedestrian,  tired  by  repetition  of  form  in 
buildings,  suddenly,  for  example,  finds  his  eye 
refreshed  as  it  lights  on  such  an  odd  and  irregu- 


120 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


Tower — Trinity  School. 

lar  turret  as  that  one  we  show  near  Twenty-sec- 
ond Street  in  Fifth  Avenue.  It  is  not  alone  that 
such  a  picturesque  object  gives  us  pleasure,  but 
one  sympathizes  with  the  poetical  or  fanciful 
turn  of  the  builder,  and,  while  the  eye  is  allured 
by  graceful  form,  the  mind  is  pleased  in  the  con- 
sciousness, thus  tangibly  aroused,  that  there  are 
others  than  humdrum  Gradgrinds.  The  little 
turret  whose  picture  we  give  is  built  to  cover 
the  third  and  fourth  story  middle  windows  of  a 
large  shop.  The  building  is  constructed  of  red 
brick,  and  its  windows  are  mostly  pointed  and 
united  into  groups  by  brown  and  gray  freestone 
copings,  while  in  spaces  between  the  stories  buff 
and  black  brick-work  is  arranged  in  tessellated 
designs.   The  little  turret,  projecting  well  beyond 


the  house-front,  and  quite  high  up  in  the 
air,  aims  primarily  at  being  a  buy- win- 
dow, and  on«'  of  it-  two  sides  fares  ob- 
liquely southward,  while  the  opposing 
angle  of  the  towrr  looks  up  Fifth  Avenue.. 
The  builder,  not  contented  to  giw  t In- 
form necessary  for  use,  has  capped  the 
top  by  a  tall  and  slender  pointed  roof 

whose  shining  brass  trimmings  add  to  its 
picturesqueness,  while  an  elaborate  orna- 
ment of  tin-  Mime  metal,  that  ri.se-  high 
above  the  apex  of  the  roof,  renders  it  still 
more  conspicuous. 

Close  by  Park  Avenue  in  Thirty-sixth 
Street  stands  a  large  dwelling  which  it* 
rerj  ta-trful  and  decorative,  [t  extendi 
the  entire  depth  of  the  block,  and  in  the 
extension  just  beyond  the  main  dwelling 
If  placid  the  odd  and  pretty  little  bel- 
vedere, an  illustration  of  which  is 
shown.  Many  houses,  both  in  city  and 
country,  contain  conservatories,  used 
partly  for  plants  and  partly  for  sitting- 
rooms.    Here  against  the  shining  glass 


Turret — Fifth  Avenue,  near  Twenty-second  Street 


ARCHITECTURAL  FEATURES 


121 


windows  stands  of  flower-pots  and  tall  flowering 
trees,  such  as  oleanders  and  pomegranates,  alter- 
nate with  sewing-tables  and  children's  toys,  easy- 


Beivedere — Thirty-sixth  Street,  near  Park  Avenue. 

chairs  and  writing-desks,  and  these  sunny  par- 
lors furnish  an  agreeable  variety  to  the  ordinary 
sitting-room  or  the  conventional  greenhouse.  In 
a  great  many  parts  of  Southern  Europe  the  cus- 
tom of  having  gardens  and  terraces  upon  the 
house-tops  is  very  common,  and  many  travelers  [ 
will  recollect  the  tall  pots  of  aloes,  the  cluster-  j 
ing  rose-bushes,  and  the  deep-green  myrtle-trees  I 
upon  the  roof  of  the  Doria  Palace,  the  Pallavi-  \ 
cini  Palace,  and  many  other  of  those  princely 
mediaeval  abodes  of  Genoa.  But  as  yet,  in  North- 
ern American  cities,  we  have  none  of  these  lux- 
urious hanging-gardens,  that  are  more  fitted  for 
tropical  than  for  northern  climates,  and  it  is  only 
here  and  there  that  some  such  little  nook  as  the 
pretty  belvedere  of  our  picture  gives  the  sugges- 
tion of  a  real  out-of-door  garden  forming  a  por- 
tion of  a  house.  This  belvedere  forms  a  sec- 
ond story  open  bay-window,  uninclosed  by  glass 
above  its  windowed  counterpart  in  the  ground- 
floor.  A  rounded  balcony  of  gray-stone  screens 
this  bit  of  summer-garden  with  its  flowering 


shrubs,  or  its  bed  of  evergreens ;  and  slender  pil- 
lars, whose  carved  capitals  support  the  arches 
of  the  roof,  are  formed  of  a  similar  material. 
Across  the  top  of  the  long  extension  of  the  house 
a  similar  balustrade  ornaments  the  roof,  while 
on  the  side  of  the  main  section  of  the  dwelling 
one  or  two  bay-windows  vary  the  monotonous 
flatness  of  the  dead- wall.  Architectural  fea- 
tures of  this  class  give  great  charm  to  many 
streets  in  the  newer  parts  of  the  city. 

An  agreeable  and  picturesque  contrast  to  the 
elaborate  Buckingham  Hotel,  at  the  corner  of 
Fiftieth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  is  made  by 
the  modest  group  of  brick  and  freestone  build- 
ings that  stand  behind  it  in  Fiftieth  Street.  Op- 
posite the  stately  white  walls  of  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral  these  pretty  fronts  group  themselves 


P 


Tower — Fiftieth  Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue. 

on  the  south  side  of  the  street.  The  tower  forms 
an  addition  to  the  room  from  which  it  projects, 
as  shown  in  the  illustration,  and  the  slightness 


122 


N E W  YORK  [LLU8TBATED 


of  the  means  taken  to  secure  so  important  a 
result  by  roofing  in  this  little  projection  and 
ornamenting  its  top  by  a  slight  trellis- work  of 
iron  and  gilt  is  specially  pleasing  by  showing 
how  good  taste  will  utilize  trivial  means.  The 
house  to  which  this  tower  belongs  is  good  in 


Tower — New  Court-House,  Sixth  Avenue. 


many  particulars.  Its  little  bay-window  stands 
well  in  regard  to  the  tower,  and  its  round-topped 
windows,  grouped  in  various  clusters,  afford  in 
connection  with  the  low-porch  door,  scarcely 
raised  above  the  level  of  the  sidewalk,  a  very 
pleasant,  cheery,  as  well  as  picturesque  bit  of 
honse-biuldisg. 

The  last  illustration  of  architectural  effects  in 
building  which  we  give  shows  the  tower  on  the 
Police  Court  building  at  the  junction  of  Sixth 
Avenue,  Tenth  Street,  and  Greenwich  Avenue. 
The  tower  i-  a-  unique  ns  the  building  to  which 
it  belongs,  and  rises  to  a  considerable  height  in  a 
circular  form,  much  above  the  level  of  the  sur- 
rounding houses.     Its  decoration  consists  chiefly 
of  a  spiral  line  of  while  stone  that  winds  around 
the  tower,  passing  between  the  windows  and 
alon--  the  edge  of  the  little  loop  holes  that  light 
the  various  stories  nearly  to  the  roof.    The  only 
fault  one  can  justly  find  in  this  tower  is  the 
shape  of  its  roof,  which,  instead  of  diminishing 
gradually  to  a  point,  as  is  usual  in  many  objects  of 
similar  construction,  whose 
proportions   are  justly  ad- 
mired, has  superimposed 
upon  its   solid  proportions 
the   inevitable  square-sided 
roof   which  we  have  bor- 
rowed from  the  French  Man- 
sard, and  which,  though  ap- 
propriate in  its  place,  is 
often   ugly   when   used  in 
connection  with  incongruous 
architecture.    In  other  re- 
spects the  effect  is  very 
pleasing.   Several  other  tow- 
ers even   more  graceful  in 
shape  rise  from  the  roof  in 
just  proportion  and  relation, 
and  stacked  chimneys  and 
dormer-windows    are  used 
very  effectively. 

Other  examples  might 
readily  be  cited  displaying 
the  unique  and  interesting 
features  becoming  more  and 
more  common  in  the  archi- 
tecture of  New  York.  But 
enough  has  been  shown  to 
indicate  what  is  unquestion- 
ably the  fact,  that  there  is 
springing  up  among  us  a 
style  of  building  which, 
though  composite  in  charac- 
ter, is  picturesque  and  taste- 
ful. 


PARKS  AND  PLEASURE-PLACES. 

PAKKS  AND  PLEASUKE-PLACES. 


123 


Central  Park. 


IF  there  be  any  point  in  New  York  to  which 
more  than  another  there  can  be  attached  an 
enduring  memory,  it  is  the  attractive  and  pictu- 
resque locality  known  as  Central  Park.  Twenty- 
five  years  ago  it  was  mainly  a  wild,  uncouth  do- 
main, the  salient  objects  of  which  were  swamps, 
bowlders,  and  huge,  knotty  projections  of  rocks 
forbidding  in  their  aspect,  and  promising  any- 
thing but  that  wonderful  development  of  beauty 
which  has  since  become  manifest  under  the  skill 
of  the  engineer,  architect,  landscape-gardener, 
and  sculptor.  Travelers,  who  have  visited  prob- 
ably every  famous  park  in  the  world,  pronounce 
eulogiums  upon  this  pride  of  the  American  me- 
tropolis, which  leave  no  room  to  doubt  that,  if 
it  is  not  already,  it  will  eventually  become,  the 
most  beautiful  park  on  earth.  Its  trees  do  not 
possess  the  grandeur  of  age,  but  its  shrubbery 
has  attained  a  luxuriant  beauty  not  often  ex- 
celled. Central  Park,  in  its  large  proportions — 
embracing  as  it  does  some  eight  hundred  and 
forty-three  acres,  an  area  which  extends  from 
Fifty-ninth  Street  to  One  Hundred  and  Tenth, 
and  from  Fifth  Avenue  on  the  east  to  Eighth 
Avenue  on  the  west  —  in  its  exquisite  lakes, 
where  in  summer  one  may  sail  in  fairy-like 
boats,  and  almost  be  lost  among  the  shady  nooks 


and  dells 
where  the 
swans  glide 
peacefully;  in  y  i 

its  cozy  re- 
cesses found  by  devious  paths,  its  artificial  caves, 
its  springs  of  water  flowing  from  rocks  that 
have  been  tapped  by  the  rods  of  modern  proph- 
ets, its  suburban  views  and  villas,  its  luxurious 
resting-places  for  the  weary,  its  rural  decora- 
tions, its  grand  lawns  and  extensive  drives  on 
roads  that  are  the  perfection  of  art,  its  various 
amusements  offered  to  the  public  for  a  mere 
trifle  of  expenditure,  its  bridges,  restaurants, 
towers,  tunnels,  and  sculptured  works — surely 
there  can  be  no  place  in  Christendom  more 
calculated  to  appeal  to  that  taste  for  and  sym- 
pathy with  Nature  which  exists  in  the  hearts  of 
us  all. 

Visit  it  at  any  hour  of  the  day,  and  you  will 
find  thousands  gathered  to  enjoy  their  walks  or 
drives.  Music  lends  its  enchantment  to  the  spot 
in  the  summer,  and  in  the  winter  the  several 
lakes  are  given  up  to  the  sports  of  the  skaters 


124 


m;\\  fobs  illustrated. 


and  curlers.  There  is,  indeed,  no  nook  or  cor- 
ner in  the  vast  reservation  that  has  not  ben 
beautified.  And  every  year  witnesses  some 
change,  some  additional  improvement.  Hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  are  annually  ex- 
pended in  this  work;  and  when  at  last  it  shall 
be  completed,  and  it  has  bet  ohm-  a  complete 
treasury  of  art,  science,  and  natural  history,  Ml 
it  now  is  in  part,  when  the  avenues  by  which  it 
is  bounded  have  been  lined  with  handsome  man- 
sions, and  grown  shadowy  with  trees,  the  famed 
parks  of  ancient  Europe  will  pale  before  the 
beauty  and  magnificence  of  that  which  is  eren 
now  the  admiration  of  all  who  see  it. 

Central  Park  is  essentially  a  democratic 
place.  It  was  created  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
people,  and,  when  you  drive  there  on  a  Saturday 
or  Sunday  afternoon,  you  will  sec  a  brilliant  and 
ever-changing  pageant,  such  as  yon  will  not  find 
elsewhere.  The  most  expensive  vehicles  of  the 
wealthy  classes  will  be  mingled  with  the  hum- 
bler barouche  that  has  been  hired  for  the  occa- 
sion by  a  family  pleasure-party,  or  perhaps  you 
may  find  yourself  side  by  side  with  the  grocery- 
wagon  of  some  sturdy  German  who  has  brought 
his  frau  and  little  ones  to  enjoy  the  stirring 
scene,  and  is  en  route  to  the  lager-bier  saloons 
of  the  upper  portions  of  the  island.  Everything, 
in  fact,  belongs  to  the  living  panorama,  from  the 
nurse  and  baby-wagon  to  the  old-fashioned  rock- 
away  of  the  AVestchester  farmer,  and  the  landau 
of  the  fashionable  lady.  Fast  horses  and  many 
of  the  celebrities  of  the  city  are  frequent  visitors 
to  the  park,  and  perhaps  it  is  the  best  of  all 
localities  in  New  York  wherein  to  observe  the 
characteristic  phases  of  out-of-door  metropolitan 
life. 

Yet  one  can  not  see  the  park  to  advantage 
from  a  carriage-window,  but  must  go  on  foot. 
The  charm  of  such  a  pleasance  is  not  merely  in 
its  broad  and  frequented  avenues,  but  in  the 
thousand  nooks  and  corners,  the  tortuous  wind- 
ings and  turnings,  where  one  continually  meets 
the  unexpected  and  finds  himself  secluded  from 
all  the  suggestions  of  busy  life,  while  the  fresh 
air,  the  sweet  scents  of  grass  and  flower,  the 
shaded  quiet,  and  the  songs  of  birds,  surround 
him  with  all  the  associations  of  country  life. 

Perhaps  in  no  way  can  we  convey  a  better 
idea  of  the  multiplicity  of  attractions  in  Central 
Park,  which  has  justly  been  called  the  lungs  of 
New  York,  than  by  giving  a  few  statistic?.  The 
length  of  carriage  ways  or  drives,  ranging  from 
fifty-four  to  sixty  feet  in  width,  is  about  nine 
miles;  the  length  of  bridle-paths,  having  an 
average  width  of  sixteen  feet,  is  a  little  over  five 


miles;  and  the  footpath-,  which  are  from  thir- 
teen to  forty  fret  in  width,  make  a  total  of  mors 
than  tweQtj-eight  miles  in  length.  There  are 
thirty  building-  of  all  kinds  in  the  park,  and 
scats  to  accommodate  ten  thousand  person-,  a 
large  number  of  these  seats  being  in  shaded 
grottoes.  On  the  four  hundred  acres  of  grow 
there  have  been  planted  since  the  opening  of 
the  park  about  half  a  million  of  trees,  shrubs, 
and  vines,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  former 
have  become  noble  trees.  Exclusive  of  the  res- 
ervoir-, there  arc  about  forty-three  acre-  of  w  a- 
ter, divided  into  six  charming  lake-  and  ponds, 
in  several  cases  these  little  sheets  of  water  being 
so  winding  and  Irregular  that  rustic  bridge-  an- 
throw  n  over  them. 

Boattemd  about  the  park  are  bronze  statues 
or  busts  of  Burns.  Alexander  Hamilton.  Fitz- 
Creene  Halleck,  Humboldt,  Maz/.ini,  Webster. 
Shakespeare,  Schiller,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and 
Morse ;  and  ideal  statues  symbolizing  Com- 
merce, the  Indian  Hunter,  and  the  American 
Soldier.  The  most  noble  and  striking  monu- 
ment in  the  park,  however,  is  the  Egyptian 
obelisk,  know  n  as  Cleopatra's  Needle,  which  was 
recently  brought  across  the  seas  from  Alexan- 
dria, Egypt,  by  Lieutenant-Commander  Gorringe, 
of  the  United  State-  Navy.  Most  of  the  statues 
in  the  park  have  been  severely  and  justly  criti- 
cised ;  but,  aside  from  the  question  of  artistic 
merit,  on  which  the  majority  of  the  visitors  who 
go  for  recreation  to  Central  Park  are  entirely  in- 
competent to  decide,  these  bronze  figures  give 
an  air  of  dignity  and  public  interest  to  it,  which 
even  cynical  critics  would  hardly  care  to  dispense 
with. 

Let  us  first  take  a  stroll  over  the  Mall,  which 
is  the  grand  promenade,  extending  about  the 
third  of  a  mile  from  the  Marble  Arch  to  the 
Terrace,  and  giving  an  excellent  view  of  a  con- 
siderable section  of  the  park.  Near  the  northern 
end  is  the  music-stand ;  and  on  Saturday  after- 
noons, during  the  summer  months,  when  the  band 
plays,  it  is  almost  impassable,  except  by  moving 
with  the  crowd.  Sunday  is,  however,  the  great 
gala-day.  for  then  the  poor  and  many  of  the  mid- 
dle classes  of  the  city  throng  the  park  in  such 
numbers  that  every  avenue  and  winding  path  is 
full  of  people,  bent  on  enjoyment.  The  Mall  is 
arched  over  with  splendid  elms,  and  along  this 
avenue  are  ranged  most  of  the  bronze  statues  of 
which  we  have  spoken.  A  pleasant  feature  is 
the  sight  of  the  children  in  the  goat-carriages, 
from  mere  babies  to  well-grown  youngsters,  who 
enter  into  the  enjoyment  of  the  scene  with  more 
zest  even  than  their  elders. 


The  Mall,  Central  Park. 


NFW   ^  <  > K K  ILLUSTRATED. 


At  the  northern  end  of  the  Mull,  leading 
down  to  the  Esplanade  on  the  shore  of  the  lake 
and  containing  the  beautiful  Rethesda  fountain, 
is  the  principal  architectural  feature  of  the  park, 
known  as  the  Terrace.  It  is  constructed  of  a 
tine,  soft  stone  of  a  yellowish-brown  color,  and 
!  he  central  stairway  goes  down  under  the  road, 
where  the  visitor  enters  an  arched-roofed  hall, 
used  as  a  restaurant.  On  the  side-stairs  are 
beautifully-chiseled  carvings  of  birds,  fruits,  and 
flowers  wrought  on  the  panels  of  the  wall  and 
along  the  base  of  the  balustrade.  The  whole 
facade  of  this  tine  specimen  of  park  architecture 
is  an  admirable  work,  and  has  been  widely  and 
justly  admired. 

The  Ramble  is  one  of  the  most  charming 
portions  of  the  park,  consisting  of  a  labyrinth 
of  narrow  winding  paths,  abounding  in  delight- 
ful bits  of  scenery,  consisting  of  deep  thickets, 
small  streams,  and  rustic  bridges.  In  this  region 
is  the  Cave,  a  deep,  rocky  dell,  where  a  solemn 
conc  lave  of  owls  generally  sit  in  state,  and  glare 
at  intruders  with  big  eyes.  Near  the  entrance 
at  Sixty-fourth  Street,  on  the  Fifth  Avenue 
side,  is  the  Menagerie,  which  has  its  quarters  in 
the  Old  Arsenal,  a  castellated  brick  building. 
There  are  good  in-door  and  out-door  collections 
of  wild  animals — lions,  tigers,  panthers,  wolves, 
bears,  monkeys,  squirrels,  opossums,  kangaroos, 
ostriches,  sea-lions,  camels,  and  a  hundred  cu- 
rious birds  and  beasts.  This  zoological  exhibi- 
tion, however,  is  larger  in  the  winter  than  in 
the  summer,  as  in  the  former  season  many  trav- 
eling shows  go  into  winter  quarters  here. 

In  the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  situated 
between  Seventy-seventh  and  Eighty-first  Streets 
and  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  are  some  very 
tine  collections  of  rare  birds,  animals,  and  insects. 
In  the  aggregate,  this  museum  is  one  of  the 
largest  and  finest  in  the  country.  It  also  con- 
tains a  meteorological  and  astronomical  obser- 
vatory, and  a  gallery  of  art.  One  of  the  greatest 
attractions  of  the  park  is  the  Metropolitan  Mu- 
seum of  Art,  which  is  situated  on  the  Fifth 
Avenue  side,  opposite  Eighty-third  Street.  The 
portion  erected,  which  is  only  one  of  a  projected 
series  of  buildings,  is  two  hundred  and  eighteen 
feet  long  and  ninety-five  broad,  and  is  a  hand- 
some structure  of  red  brick,  with  sandstone 
trimmings,  in  the  Gothic  style.  The  most  im- 
portant feature  of  this  Museum  is  the  Di  Ces- 
nola  collection  of  ancient  art  objects,  exhumed 
in  Cyprus,  regarded  by  archaeologists  as  the  most 
remarkable  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  There  are 
also  a  number  of  loan  collections  of  pottery, 
paintings,  sculpture,  arms,  wood-carvings,  etc., 


which  amply  reward  the  curiosity  of  the  student. 
The  picture-gallery  belonging  to  the  Museum 
Contains  sonic  of  the  best  examples  of  the  old 
Dutch.  Flemish,  and  Spanish  masters  to  be  found 
in  America.  This  Museum  -tamN  within  a  few 
feet  of  the  East  I  >rive. 

There  is  no  attraction  in  Central  Park  which 
will  be  gazed  on  with  more  curiosity  and  interest 
than  the  obelisk  which  was  presented  to  the 

<  ity  of  New  Fori  bj  [small  Pasha,  late  Khedive 

of  Egypt,  and  brought  across  the  ocean  through 
the  remarkable  engineering  skill  of  Lieutenant- 
Commander  (infringe,  1'nited  State-,  Navy.  It 
-'arid-  on  a  knoll  in  the  grounds  adjoining  the 
Metropolitan  Museum,  and  occupies,  as  it  de- 
serves, one  of  the  most  commanding  situations 
in  the  park.  This  monolith  carries  us  back  to  a 
period  more  than  fifteen  centuries  before  Christ, 
and  it  is  probable  that  Moses  gazed  at  it,  even 
then  many  generations  old.  while  he  was  a  priest 
at  the  city  of  On,  or  Ileliopolis.  According  to 
the  hieroglyphical  writings  inscribed  on  its  side, 
it  was  made  at  the  order  of  Thothrnes  III,  one 

i  of  the  greatest  Conquerors  among  the  Egyptian 
k i iiLr-,  who  carried  his  arms  among  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  East,  to  commemorate  his  victories 
This  is  one  of  two  obelisks  erected  at  the  city  of 
the  sun-god,  Ileliopolis,  by  this  monarch.  Three 
centuries  after  his  death,  vacant  spaces  on  this 
monolith  were  inscribed  by  order  of  Rameses  II? 
who  appears  to  have  been  the  Greek  Sesostris, 
and  also  a  great  conqueror,  with  records  of  the 
latter's  achievements.  Under  the  Greek  domin- 
ion of  the  Ptolemies,  this  wonderful  monument 
of  the  most  ancient  civilization  in  the  world  was 
removed  from  its  time-honored  site  at  the  city 
of  On  to  Alexandria,  where  it  occupied  a  place 
which  made  it  almost  the  first  object  greeting 
the  eye  of  the  voyager  on  entering  the  harbor. 
When  Augustus  Caesar  and  Mark  Antony  fought 
their  tremendous  duel  under  the  very  eyes  of 
the  beautiful  Cleopatra,  this  was  already  nearly 
fifteen  hundred  years  old,  and  it  looked  down 

i  unchanged  on  all  the  warlike  convulsions,  "the 
drums  and  tramplings  of  conquest  after  con- 
quest," which  have  swept  over  Egypt  in  succes- 
sive waves.  Of  the  different  Egyptian  monu- 
ments which  have  been  removed  from  their 
native  land  and  erected  in  foreign  countries,  in- 
cluding those  in  Rome,  Paris,  and  London,  the 
New  York  obelisk,  known  as  Cleopatra's  Needle, 
is  the  most  remarkable  and  historically  interest- 

|  ing,  as  well  as  the  most  perfect  in  its  preserva- 

;  tion.  The  bystander  who  can  look  at  this  dumb 
but  eloquent  witness  of  nearly  thirty-five  cen- 
turies of  the  world's  changes  and  catastrophes 


PARKS  AND  PLEASURE-PLACES. 


127 


without  a 
strange  thrill 
must  be,  indeed, 
callous  and  lack- 
ing in  imagina- 
tion. 

A  charming 
place  for  a  ram- 
ble or  drive  may 
be  found  in  Riv- 
erside Park,  a 
narrow  and  ir- 
regular strip  of 
land  lying  be- 
tween Riverside 
Avenue  and  the 

Hudson  River 
from  Seventy- 
second  Street  to 

One  Hundred 

and  Thirtieth 

Street.  Be- 
tween the  west- 
ern  limit  and 

the  river,  how- 
ever, passes  the 

road-bed  of  the 

Hudson  River 

Railway.  The 

general  width 

of  the  park  is 

about  five  hun- 
dred feet,  while 

its  entire  length 

is  some  three 

miles,  the  area 

being  about  one 

hundred  and 

seventy  -  eight 

acres,    only  a 

portion  of  which 

has    been  laid 

out  in  walks  and 

drives,  while  the 

rest  still  retains 

the  wild  pictu- 

resqueness    o  f 

nature.  The 

surroundings  of 

this  park  are  so 

lovely  that  it  is 

believed  it  will 

ultimately  be- 
come the  most 

aristocratic  residence  region  of  New  York. 
The  ground  rises  to  a  bold  bluff  above  the  Hud- 


son River,  and  the  views  from  the  river  drive- 
way are  very  charming,  giving  glimpses  of  the 


L28 


NEW  TORK   II.I.I  STKATKD. 


undulating,  tree-covered  park,  the  shining 
stretches  of  the  river  dimpled  into  innumerable 


surrounded  by  a  wide 
is  terraced  down  to  the  track. 


wavelets,  and  tin-  Wee- 
hawken  heights  oppo- 
site. Within  its  limits 
is  the  Claremont  man- 
sion, named  after  Lord 
Clare,  a  royal  colonial 
governor;  and  perched 
at  the  bifurcation  of 
two  huge  oak-limbs  is  a 
marble  bust  of  George 
II,  which  was  brought 
to  this  country  by  a 
Dutch  ship,  and  ante- 
dates the  famous  one 
which  once  stood  on 
the  Battery. 

A  famous  resort  in 
connection  with  the 
turf  interests  of  New 
York  is  the  race-course 
known  as  Jerome  Park, 
whirh  was  laid  out  and 
beautified  with  trees, 
shrubbery,  a  club-house 
and  other  necessary 
buildings,  by  Leonard 
W.  J  erom  e.  Turf 
amusements  number 
among  their  patrons 
many  of  the  most 
wealthy  and  influential 
residents  of  the  city. 
The  American  Jockey 
Club,  organized  in  1866, 
leases  Jerome  Park,  and 
it  is  under  their  au- 
spices that  the  most  ex- 
citing races  run  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York 
are  conducted.  This 
park  is  situated  near 
Fordham,  in  the  ex- 
treme northern  suburb 
of  the  city.  The  track 
is  an  excellent  one.  and 
on  a  knoll  in  the  cen- 
ter stands  the  club- 
house, which  is  a  hand- 
some and  well-appoint- 
ed structure,  containing 
parlors,  large  and  small 
dining-rooms,  and 
sleeping-  and  retiring- 
rooms.  The  house  is 
veranda,  and  the  lawn 
On  racing-days 


PARKS  AND  PLEASURE-PLACES. 


120 


these  are  covered  with  ladies  in  bright  toilets, 
and  the  drags  of  the  Coaching  Club  are  drawn 
up  near  by.  Opposite  the  club-house  are  the 
large  grand  stand,  the  quarter-stretch  (where 
the  betting  men  congregate),  the  judges1  stand, 
etc.  The  American  Jockey  Club  is  really  the 
most  prominent  racing  association  in  the  United 
States,  numbering  as  it  does  some  fifteen  hun- 
dred members,  and  including  representatives 
of  nearly  every  wealthy  family  in  the  city. 
It  is  presided  over  by  Mr.  August  Belmont. 
The  Club  gives  two  meetings  annually,  one 
early  in  June  and  the  other  early  in  October, 
during  which  there  are  five,  six,  and  some- 
times seven  days  of  racing.  Horse-racing  has 
not  become  so  essentially  a  national  pastime 
in  America  as  in  England,  and  nowhere  in  this 
country  do  we  ever  see  such  a  scene  of  enthusi- 
asm and  interest  as  that  of  Derby  Day  on  the  Ep- 
som Downs  of  England,  which  so  engages  the 
attention  of  ail  classes  as  to  supersede  all  other 
interests  whether  of 
business  or  pleasure. 
But  a  racing-day  at 


not  boast  of  the  uni- 
versality of  interest 
and  that  picturesque- 
ness  which  comes  of 
an  immense  throng 
of  all  classes  meeting 
for  the  nonce  on 
terms  of  democratic 
equality,  has  a  gay- 
ety  and  attraction 
of  its  own  which 
make  a  visit  on  one 
of  these  occa- 
sions an  agree- 
able episode. 


The  most  unique  and  attractive  pleasure  re- 
sort in  the  vicinity  of  New  York  is  found,  how- 
ever, at  Coney  Island,  only  a  few  years  ago  a 
barren  waste  of  sand,  with  a  few  low  taverns, 
given  over  to  the  amusements  of  rowdies  and 
"  demi-reps,"  but  now  crowded  with  magnificent 
hotels  and  all  those  attractions  which  make  the 
seaside  delightful  for  a  day's  visit.  Of  its  kind 
there  is  no  watering-place  in  the  world  which 
has  so  many  individual  fascinations  as  Coney 
Island  under  its  present  regime. 

Coney  Island  is  the  extreme  western  end  of 
a  great  outlying  sand-bar  broken  by  inlets,  ex- 
tending along  the  coast  of  Long  Island  for  ninety 
miles,  other  sections  being  known  as  Rockaway, 
Long,  Jones,  Oak  Island,  and  Great  South  Beach- 
es. Coney  Island  is  a  part  of  the  town  of  Graves- 
end,  and  is  separated  from  the  shore  by  Graves- 
end  Bay  on  the  west,  Sheepshead  Bay  and  Coney 
Island  Creek  on  the  north.  On  the  east  it  runs 
out  to  a  sharp  point,  and  has  the  broad  Atlantic 
for  its  southern  boundary.  Its  distance  in  a  bee- 
line  from  the  battery  to  the  wharf  at  the  western 
end  of  the  island  is  eight  and  one  half  miles. 
Previous  to  1875  this  fine  stretch  of  sea-beach, 
with  its  splendid  surf-bathing  and  its  convenient 
location  with  reference  to  access  from  New  York 
and  Brooklyn,  was  a  mere  waste  of  barren  sand 
except  at  the  west  end  of  the  island,  where  there 
was  a  small  hotel,  to  which  two  steamboats  made 
daily  trips,  and  at  the  terminus  of  the  Coney  Isl- 
and road,  where  stood  another  wretched  hostelry, 


The  Obelisk,  Central  Park. 


130 


new  YORE  ILLUSTRATED. 


to  which  driving  parties  from  Brooklyn  some- 
times came.  Bat  tlie  beach,  as  has  been  pre  vi- 
ously indicated,  was  but  little  visited  by  the  more 
refined  classes,  its  wonderful  facilities  for  sea- 
bathing and  enjoyment  of  the  fresh  ocean-breezes 
being  for  the  most  part  given  Dp  to  the  rough 
and  dissolute,  who  were  wont  to  turn  the 
beautiful  beach  into  a  pandemonium.  A  single 
horse-car  line  from  Fulton  Ferry  and  a  steam 
line  from  a  remote  portion  of  Brooklyn,  near 
Greenwood  Cemetery,  furnished  the  means  of 
reaching  the  other  portions  of  the  beach.  In 
1874  a  steam  road  from  Twentieth  street,  Brook- 
lyn, was  built  by  an  enterprising  capitalist  to 
what  is  now  known  as  West  Brighton  Beach,  and 
a  large  pavilion  and  restaurant  were  erected  at 
its  terminus.  The  result  proved  that  the  enter- 
prise necessary  to  afford  a  convenient  means  of 
reaching  the  island  was  all  that  was  m-ees- ar\  to 
secure  for  the  place  the  position  to  which  its 
location  and  natural  advantages  entitled  it,  as 
the  most  popular  watering-place  in  this  country. 
At  the  present  time  eight  steam-railways,  one 
line  of  street-cars,  and  nine  lines  of  steamboats, 
capable  of  transporting  at  least  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  persons  to  and  from  the  beach 
daily,  are  in  operation.  The  beach  itself  is  cov- 
ered with  light  and  airy  buildings  of  all  sizes  and 
for  every  conceivable  purpose,  and  during  the 
season  the  sands  are  black  with  people  daily. 
Three  of  the  hotels  are  among  the  finest  of  their 
kind  in  the  world,  and  a  number  of  others  are 
fully  equal  to  the  best  hotels  at  other  watering- 
places.  The  island  is  now  divided  into  four 
parts,  known  as  the  West  End  or  Norton's  Point, 
West  Brighton  or  Cable's,  Brighton  Beach,  and 
Manhattan  Beach.  Beginning  at  the  West  End, 
or  Norton's,  the  island  has  been  but  little  im- 
proved. The  beach  is  covered  with  the  refuse 
thrown  up  by  the  tides,  and  the  surface  of  the 
island  is  covered  with  irregular  hummocks  of 
fine  white  sand  and  an  occasional  growth  of 
beach-grass  and  laurel.  Norton's  Hotel  is  an 
old,  low,  wooden  building,  back  from  the  shore, 
and  a  wooden  path  leads  down  to  a  large  pavil- 
ion. Accommodations  are  provided  here  for 
parties  with  lunch-baskets,  and  there  are  numer- 
ous unattractive-looking  bathing-houses.  Be- 
tween Norton's  Hotel  and  West  Brighton  Beach 
there  are  fourteen  small  hotels  and  pavilions. 
The  principal  hotel  at  West  Brighton  is  known 
as  Cable's,  and  this  point  is  about  the  center  of 
the  beach.  The  scene  here  is  suggestive  of  a 
huge  fair-ground.  There  is  a  broad  plaza  in  the 
center,  with  green  grass  and  flowers,  traversed 
with  wide  modern  pavements.    Besides  Cable's, 


there  are  several  other  wry  decent  hotels  clus- 
tered about  the  plaza.  Every  afternoon  and 
evening  a  band  plays  at  the  pavilion  near  by, 
and  the  scene  at  night  is  illuminated  by  the  brill- 
iant rays  of  the  electric  light.  A  camera-ob- 
Hcnin  gives  excellent  views  of  the  beach,  which 
are  well  worth  seeing;  and  an  observatory,  three 
hundred  feet  high,  the  top  of  which  is  reached 
by  large  elevators,  affords  a  splendid  outlook 
over  the  island,  the  bay,  and  the  adjacent  citi< •-. 

One  of  the  most  st l  iking  features  of  this  part 
of  the  island  is  the  pier,  one  thousand  feet  long, 
built  of  tubular  iron  piles,  which  runs  out  a  thou- 
sand feet  into  the  sea.  On  it  are  three  two-story 
buildings  containing  saloons,  restaurants,  and 
promenades,  twelve  hundred  bath-rooms,  and 
.stairways  leading  down  into  the  water  from  the 
pier.  Steamboats  from  New  York  land  at  t  hi> 
pier  nearly  every  hour  all  day. 

A  wide  drive  and  promenade  about  half  a 
mile  long  lead  to  Brighton  Beach  on  the  east. 
Park  wagons  are  continually  passing  to  and  fro 
to  convey  those  too  tired  or  too  lazy  to  walk. 
From  a  point  about  half-way  between  the  two 
latter-named  beaches,  an  elevated  railway  will 
run  to  Lot  ust  (irove,  connecting  there  with 
steamboats  from  New  York.  Brighton  Beach 
is  one  of  the  pleasantcst  parts  of  the  island,  and 
is  a  favorite  resort  of  Brooklyn  people.  If  it  is 
a  little  less  gay  and  showy  in  its  surroundings, 
its  air  of  home-like  comfort  in  the  appointments 
of  its  buildings  will  more  than  compensate  in 
the  opinion  of  many  people.  The  hotel  is  an 
ornamental  wooden  structure,  five  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet  long,  and  three  stories  in  height, 
with  broad  piazzas  extending  around  the  whole 
building.  From  every  one  of  its  towers  during 
the  summer  season  streams  bunting,  as  is  the 
case  with  all  of  the  buildings  on  the  island. 
The  hotel  is  handsomely  finished  and  decorated, 
and  in  its  furniture  and  appointments  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  most  city  hotels.  Twenty 
thousand  persons  can  be  easily  fed  here  during 
the  day.  In  front  of  the  hotel  an  orchestra  of 
sixty  performers  play  during  the  afternoon  and 
evening,  and  the  grounds  are  prettily  laid  out 
with  walks,  grass,  and  flowers. 

From  Brighton  Beach  the  grounds  of  Manhat- 
tan Beach  extend  eastward  for  two  miles  and  a 
half.  The  hotel  is  a  fine  wooden  building,  six  hun- 
dred and  sixty  feet  long,  and  three  and  four  stories 
in  height,  said  to  be  one  of  the  largest  structures 
of  the  kind  in  the  world.  It  is  richly  furnished 
and  admirably  appointed  in  every  particular,  the 
permanent  guests  having  sole  claim  to  the  use 
of  the  upper  floors,  while  the  lower  floors  and 


32 


NKW   YORK   I LU'STKATEI). 


piazzas  are  given  over  to  the  daily  visitors.  In 
the  rear  of  the  building  is  the  railway-station  ;  a 


murine     railway  run* 
westward  to  the  Brigh- 
ton  Beach  Hot .  K  along 
the  sands;    and  a  new 
road  will  noon  be  built 
on  piles  across  Sheep>- 
head  Bay  to  the  race- 
course of  the  Coney  Isl- 
and Jockey  Club.    II  u- 
sic  is  furnished,  as  at  the 
other   principal  hotels, 
from    the    pavilion  in 
front,  iind  an  immense 
throng  may  be  always 
seen  here,  listening  to 
the  music,  which  is  of 
the     finest,  chatting, 
laughing,   flirting,  and 
otherwise    enjoying  a 
delightful  open-air  con- 
cert with  its  enlivening 
and    joyous  surround- 
ings. Four  thousand  per- 
sons can   dine  at  one 
time,  and  thirty  thou- 
sand during  the  day.  In 
a  grand   pavilion  near 
the  hotel  fifteen  hundred 
persons  can  sit  at  table. 
Vi-itors  who  bring  their 
own  lunch  are  provided 
for  here,  and  capital  din- 
ners of  sea-food  can  be 
had.  The  bathing-houses 
to  the  left  contain  twen- 
ty-seven  hundred  sepa- 
rate rooms,  and  the  ar- 
rangements are  perfect 
in  every  respect.  The 
beach  in  front  is  fenced 
in,    and    the  inclosed 
.space   rigidly  reserved 
for  bathers.  Large  floats 
beyond  the  breakers  af- 
ford resting  and  diving 
places  for  expert  swim- 
mers, and  life-boats  pa- 
trol the  beach  at  the 
same  point.    The  ladies1 
bathing-houses  are  sep- 
arate, and  hot  and  cold 
salt-water  baths  in  pri- 
vate rooms  are  provided 
for  those  who  do  not 
like  surf-bathing.    An  amphitheatre  seating  two 
thousand  persons  overlooks  the  bathing-grounds, 


PARKS  AND  PLEASURE-PLACES. 


133 


and  a  band  plays  here  during  the 
afternoon  and  evening. 

East  of  the  Manhattan  Hotel 
is  the  Oriental  Hotel,  built  by  the 
Manhattan  Beach  Company,  for 
the  accommodation  of  permanent 
guests  and  families  who  desire  to 
be  free  from  the  confusion  attend- 
ing the  coming  and  going  of  tran- 
sient visitors  and  excursionists.  It 
is  a  picturesque  structure  six  and 
seven  stories  high,  four  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  feet  long,  and 
ornamented  with  eight  large  cir- 
cular towers  rising  forty  feet  above 
the  roof,  each  surmounted  by  a 
minaret  fifteen  feet  high.  There 
are  four  hundred  and  eighty  sleep- 
ing-rooms, handsomely  furnished, 
and  the  main  dining-room  is  one 
hundred  and  sixty  by  sixty-four 
feet ;  and  the  servants'  rooms  and 
the  various  offices  are  in  the  de- 
tached buildings  in  the  rear. 

From  the  foregoing  description 
it'  may  be  readily  gathered  that 
Coney  Island  is  a  most  remark- 
able and  unique  watering-place. 
Within  an  hour's  journey  of  New 
York,  it  furnishes  thousands  of 
people,  who  can  not  leave  the  city 
during  the  summer  months  except 
for  a  very  brief  period,  a  chance 
for  seaside  diversion,  bathing,  and 
fresh  air,  while  every  resource 
known  which  can  gratify  the  most 
epicurean  tastes  offers  its  seduc- 
tions for  the  more  fastidious  public. 
Indeed,  many  families,  previously 
in  the  habit  of  going  for  the  sum- 
mer to  more  distant  points,  have 
of  late  adopted  Coney  Island  for 
their  summer  home.  It  is,  how- 
ever, from  the  great  throng  of 
daily  pleasure-seekers,  made  up  of 
all  classes,  that  Coney  Island  gains 
its  peculiar  picturesqueness  and 
animation.  The  whole  length  of 
the  beach  on  a  bright  summer  day 
is  a  never-ending  procession  of 
people,  from  men  and  women  of 
the  highest  social  rank  and  posi- 
tion, to  humble  mechanics  and  la- 
borers out  for  a  day's  airing  with 
their  families;  and  the  contrasts  of  life  and 
character  resulting  from  this  heterogeneous  as- 


sembly give  Coney  Island  its  greatest  charm, 
aside  from  the  sea,  air,  and  sunlight. 


Scenes  at  Coney  Island. 


Scenes  at  Coney  Island. 


L36 


N  K  W   YOKK   I  Mil's TIIATKI ) 


B ROOKLT N 


A DAY  might  be  well  spent  by  the  visitor  in 
rambling  about  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  which 
contains  many  objects  of  local  and  historic  signifi- 
cance, to  say  nothing  of  the  pleasant  drives  that 
abound  in  its  suburbs.  The  third  city  in  the 
United  States  in  respect  of  population,  it  is  es- 
sentially a  portion  of  New  York,  and  probably 
the  day  will  come  when  it  will  be  nominally  as 
well  as  really  incorporated  into  the  great  Amer- 
ican metropolis.  The  "  City  of  Churches,"  as 
Brooklyn  is  often  called,  is  practically  a  great 
dormitory  or  suburb  of  New  York.  But  little 
business  is  done  there  except  what  is  directly 
connected  with  the  shipping  interests  of  the 
port  of  New  York,  or  such  supply-trade  as  may 
be  necessary  for  local  needs. 

Instantly  the  stranger  sets  foot  in  Brooklyn, 
he  is  struck  with  the  provinciality  and  serenity 
of  the  place ;  contrasting  so  vividly  with  the 
feverish  energy  which  makes  every  pulse  of  life 
just  across  the  East  River  throb  so  fiercely. 
Brooklyn  in  many  respects  reminds  one  of 
Philadelphia  in  this  quiet  and  peaceful  feeling 
which  is  diffused  through  all  its  associations, 
and  causes  one  to  liken  it  to  a  huge,  overgrown 
country  village.     In  some  respects,  however, 


Brooklyn  has  supplementary  advantages  which 
cause  it  to  be  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  New 
York,  aside  from  its  value  as  a  residence  region 
for  those  engaged  in  the  tumult  and  hurly-burly 
of  business  in  the  imperial  center  of  American 
|  civilization. 

Originally  settled  by  the  Dutch,  like  New 
York  itself,  the  spirit  of  the  old  Flemish  burgher 
has  impressed  itself  on  the  life  and  traditions  of 
the  city  with  a  conservatism  which  has  been 
still  more  fed  by  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  people  who  have  drifted  thither  come 
from  the  Eastern  States,  and  have  brought  those 
notions  with  them  which  are  the  outcome  of 
the  old  New  England  Puritanism,  a  power  still 
strong  in  its  essence,  though  it  has  passed  away 
as  a  name. 

The  circuit  of  Brooklyn  measures  twenty- 
three  and  a  half  miles,  and  the  city  embraces  an 
area  of  thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  acres.  Its  extreme  length  from 
north  to  south  is  about  seven  and  three  quarter 
miles,  and  its  greatest  breadth  five  miles,  the 
western  boundary  affording  about  eight  and  a 
half  miles  of  water-front.  TYilliamsburgh,  for- 
merly a  separate  city,  was  united  with  Brooklyn 


BROOKLYN. 


137 


in  1855,  and  is  known  as  the  Eastern  District. 
In  fact,  the  city  embraces  several  districts,  still 
locally  known  by  the  names  which  they  bore 
when  they  were  distinct  municipalities.  The 
city  has  many  advantages  as  a  place  of  residence. 
It  is  for  the  most  part  considerably  elevated 


i  i 


above  tide-water,  and  is  open  on  all  sides  to 
land  and  sea  breezes,  while  the  wide  streets, 
generally  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  afford  a 
free  circulation  of  oir. 

Of   the   numerous    ferries    which  connect 


Brooklyn  with  New  York,  Fulton  Ferry  is  by 
far  the  most  important,  and  is  an  avenue  of 
travel  and  traffic  whose  extent  astonishes  one 
when  he  examines  its  statistics.  Not  less  than 
twenty-five  million  people  cross  this  ferry  an- 
nually, not  to  speak  of  the  enormous  amount  of 
freight  borne  on  these  sluggish,  tur- 
tle-shaped boats,  which  play  so  im- 
portant a  part  in  the  economy  of 
New  York  life.  The  ferry-house  on 
the  Brooklyn  side  is  a  roomy  and 
ornate  structure,  and  there  was  a 
time  when  the  most  important  busi- 
ness interests  of  Brooklyn  were  con- 
■  ,  centrated  in  its  immediate  vicinity, 

but  the  business  center  has  now  shift- 
ed to  the  City  Hall,  where  are  situated 
most  of  the  monetary  institutions, 
s  such  as  banks,  insurance  companies, 
d  etc.  The  great  commercial  interests 
:  lie  along  the  river-front.  It  is  here 
£  that  Brooklyn  plays  a  most  impor- 
i  tant  part  in  filling  a  great  need  for 
Q  New  York  ocean-commerce.  Brook 
t  lyn's  extended  water-front  is  com- 
l  pletely  occupied  by  piers,  slips,  ware- 
l  houses,  boat  r.nd  ship  yards,  ferries, 
5  etc.  Here  are  some  of  the  most  com- 
l  modious  and  extensive  wharves  and 
I  warehouses  in  the  United  States.  The 
I  immense  quantities  of  grain  received 
?  here  make  Brooklyn  one  of  the  great- 
l  est  grain  depots  in  the  world.  Grain 
\  is  brought  from  the  Western  States 
t  by  canal  and  river  to  the  port  of  New 
\  York,  and  then  stored  in  the  Brook- 
*  lyn  warehouses  for  distribution 
\  through  the  United  States  and  Eu- 
5«  rope.  It  is  estimated  that  twenty- 
five  thousand  vessels  exclusive  of 
canal-boats  and  lighters  are  annually 
unloaded  on  the  Brooklyn  side  of  the 
East  River,  and  that  the  total  value 
of  the  merchandise  stores  is  but  little 
less  than  three  hundred  million  dol- 
lars annually. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features 
of  the  Brooklyn  water-front  is  the 
massive  Atlantic  Dock,  which  belongs 
to  a  company  organized  in  1840,  and 
the  first  to  provide  extensive  ship  ac- 
commodations of  this  kind.    This  fronts  Gov- 
ernor's Island,  near  the  south  extremity  of  the 
shore-line,  and  is  a  basin  in  the  form  of  a  par- 
allelogram, with  an  area  of  forty  acres,  and  a 
depth  of  twenty-five  feet,  being  sufficient  to 


138 


NKW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


float  (lie  biggest  ships,  five  hundred  of  which 

can  find  quarters  in  it  at  once.  The  Brooklyn 
Basin,  the  Erie  Basin,  the  Wallahout  Basin,  and 
others,  also  furnish  equally  extensive  facilities 
tor  the  accommodation  of  vessel-  :»nd  the  com- 
merce of  which  they  are  the  indispensable  vehi- 
cles. It  will  be  easily  admitted,  then,  that  the 
Brooklyn  water-front,  with  its  incomparable  ac- 
commodations tor  shipping,  is  a  necessity  sup- 
plement to  NCw  York  and  the  interests  of  t he- 
port. 

About  a  half-mile  from  the  Fulton  Ferry 
stands  the  City  Hall,  at  the  junction  of  Fulton, 
Court,  and  Joralemon  Streets.  This  is  a  fine 
structure  of  white  marble  in  the  Ionic  style, 
with  six  columns  supporting  the  roof  of  the  por- 
tico. Its  dimensions  are  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  feet  by  one  hundred  and  two,  and  seventy- 
tive  feet  in  height,  comprising  three  stories  and 
a  basement;  it  is  surmounted  by  a  tower,  the 
top  of  which  is  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  feel 
from  the  ground,  and  which  contains  a  clock,  the 
dials  of  which  are  illuminated  :it  night.  This 
building  was  erected  in  1845,  at  an  OipOOSe  ol 


tWO  hundred  thousand  dollars,  though  the  origi- 
nal plan,  which  proposed  a  much  greater  struct- 
ure, would  have  cost  more  than  the  times  that 
amount. 

The  Kings  County  Court  House,  which  || 
situated  on  Joralemon  Street,  in  the  rear  of  the 
City  Hall,  extends  back  to  Livingston  Street  and 
fronts  on  Fulton  Street.  It  is  one  hundred  and 
forty  feet  wide  and  three  hundred  and  fifteen 
feet  in  depth.  The  height  is  sixty-four  feet,  and 
the  building  is  surmounted  by  a  cupola  composed 
of  l  ibs  and  panel- work  of  iron,  rising  one  hun- 
dred and  four  feet  above  the  ground.  The  main 
edifice  is  constructed  of  Westchester  marble,  in 
the  Corinthian  style  of  architecture,  and  it  was 
erected  in  1SG2,  at  a  cost  of  five  hundred  and 
forty-three  thousand  dollars.  Adjoining  tin- 
Court-House,  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  may 


Academy  of  Music  and  Academy  of  Design. 


BROOKLYN. 


139 


be  seen  the  Municipal  Building,  also  on  Joral- 
emon  Street.  It  is  a  fine  structure  of  marble, 
with  spacious  rooms  and  hallways,  and  is  occu- 
pied as  the  headquarters  of  the  police  and  for 
other  municipal  purposes.  Near  by  this  vicinity, 
in  Washington  Park,  are  interred  the  remains  of 
the  ill-fated  prisoners  of  war  who  died  on  the 
terrible  prison-ships,  and  were  first  buried  on  | 
the  adjacent  shores  of  the  Wallabout.  After 
some  years  of  agitation,  the  bones  were  finally  ' 


collected  in  1808,  and  laid  in  a  vault  near  the 
Navy- Yard  with  imposing  ceremonies.  In  1873 
they  were  transferred  to  a  vault  constructed 
for  the  purpose  in  Washington  Park  (old  Fort 
Greene),  where  it  is  also  proposed  to  erect  a 
monument  to  the  memory  of  the  martyrs. 

Other  imposing  buildings  are  the  County  Jail, 
in  Raymond  Street,  a  heavy- looking,  castellated 
Gothic  edifice  of  red  sandstone ;  the  Penitentiary, 
in  Nostrand  Avenue,  near  the  city  limits  ;  the 


Urn 


1m 


Tip  if  ' 


Long  Island  Historical  Society  Building. 


State  Arsenal,  in  Portland  Avenue  near  Washing- 
ton Park ;  and  the  City  Hospital,  which  stands 
on  elevated  ground  in  Raymond  Street  near  De 
Kalb  Avenue.  This  building  has  a  front  of  two 
hundred  feet,  and  consists  of  a  main  building, 
four  stories  high,  fifty-two  feet  in  width  and 
depth,  with  a  rear  extension  of  thirty  feet;  and 
two  wings,  each  seventy-four  feet  long,  fifty-six 
feet  deep,  and  three  stories  in  height. 

On  Montague  Street,  west  of  the  City  Hall, 
may  be  observed  two  fine  structures  devoted  to 
the  fine  arts,  the  Academies  of  Music  and  De- 
sign, both  of  which  are  admirably  fitted  for 
their  purposes.  The  Academy  of  Music  is  the 
property  of  a  stock  company,  and  was  erected  in 
1860,  at  an  expense  of  two  hundred  thousand 


dollars.  It  is  constructed  of  brick,  with  Dorches- 
ter-stone trimmings,  and  has  a  front  length  of 
two  hundred  and  thirty-six  feet,  with  a  width  of 
ninety -two  feet  in  the  rear.  The  interior  is  rich- 
ly decorated  in  dark  colors,  and  the  seating  ca- 
pacity is  twenty-three  hundred.  The  opera  com- 
panies which  have  given  performances  in  New 
York  have  always  appeared  in  this  opera-house 
of  the  sister  city,  so  that  Brooklyn  has  heard  for 
a  number  of  years  simultaneously  with  New 
York  all  the  great  singers  who  have  come  hith- 
er from  Europe.  The  Academy  of  Design  ad- 
joins the  Academy  of  Music,  and  is  a  highly 
ornamental  structure  of  the  southern  Gothic 
style  of  architecture,  built  of  brown  sandstone. 
It  has  one  small  and  two  large  rooms  for  the 


BROOKLYN. 


141 


exhibition  of  pictures,  lighted  from  the  roof. 
It  communicates  with  the  second  floor  of  the 
Academy  of  Music  by  large  doors.  The  Brook- 
lyn Art  Association  holds  two  annual  exhibitions 
of  pictures  here,  in  the  spring  and  fall.  On  the 
opening  night  there  is  always  a  full-dress  recep- 
tion, when  the  Academy  of  Music  is  also  thrown 


open.  Admission  can  only  be  obtained  by  card 
from  a  member.  The  pictures  are  mainly  loaned 
by  wealthy  connoisseurs  and  by  artists ;  and  the 
work  of  the  scholars  in  the  principal  Brooklyn 
schools  is  also  exhibited.  After  the  opening,  the 
pictures  remain  for  two  weeks  on  free  exhibition. 
Many  of  the  finest  pictures  which  are  exhibited 


Prospect  Park. 


first  in  the  New  York  Academy  of  Design  also 
find  their  way  into  the  Brooklyn  exhibitions,  so 
that  the  latter  are  but  little  less  attractive  than 
those  held  in  New  York  as  representative  of  the 
best  art  of  the  time. 

Another  important  institution,  which  is  the 
outcome  of  the  intellectual  needs  of  the  time,  is 
the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  which  occu- 
pies a  fiue  large  brick  structure,  seventy-five  by  I 


one  hundred  feet  in  size,  with  terra-cotta  and 
stone  trimmings,  at  the  corner  of  Clinton  and 
Pierpont  Streets,  adjoining  Trinity  Church,  which 
was  completed  in  the  spring  of  1880.  There 
are  a  fine  hall,  a  library  containing  twenty-six 
thousand  volumes,  an  equal  number  of  pam- 
phlets, and  a  museum  with  many  curious  relics 
among  its  treasures.  Persons  not  residents  of 
|  Brooklyn  are  admitted  on  the  introduction  of 


142 


m;\v  fOBK  [LLU8TRATED. 


1  member.  This  society  lias  already  played  a 
highly  important  part  in  the  collection  of  old 
colonial  records  ami  other  national  antiquities. 

Brooklyn  is  celebrated  for  its  churches,  and 
contains  some  of  the  foremost  preaching  talent 
of  the  country.  Plymouth  Church,  win  iv  K.  v. 
Henry  Ward  Beeoher  is  pastor,  is  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  institutions  of  its  kind  in  the 
United  States,  and  is  a  great  attraction  for  both 
strangers  and  residents.  The  church  is  a  huge 
brick  building  of  great  architectural  simplicity, 


containing  tha  largeet  ohoreh-orgaa  In  ajnariet, 
and  having  a  seating  capacity  of  twenty-*  i_' hi 
hundred  people.  The  building  is  generalh 
thronged  to  hear  the  famous  pulpit  orator,  and 
one  miv  easily  find  the  way  thither  by  merely 
following  the  crowd.  It  is  said  that,  the  income 
of  the  church  merely  from  the  sale  of  pews  is 
nearly  seventy  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Other 
well-known  Brooklyn  churches  are  St.  Ann's 
(Episcopal),  at  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Living- 
ston Streets,  of  the  middle  pointed  Gothic  style, 


Greenwood  Cemetery. 


BROOKLYN. 


143 


built  at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars; 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  (Episcopal), 
which  has  a  spire  two  hundred  and  seventy- five 
feet  high,  and  is  generally  of  great  architectural 
beauty,  at  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Montague 
Streets;  St.  Paul's  (Episcopal),  at  the  corner  of 
Clinton  and  Carroll  Streets,  a  handsome  Gothic 
structure,  which  cost  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars ;  the  "  Church  of  the  Pilgrims," 
where  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs  is  pastor,  a  noble  edifice 
of  gray-stone  with  a  commanding  spire,  at  the 
corner  of  Henry  and  Remsen  Streets,  which 
contains  in  the  wall  of  the  main  tower  a  piece 
of  the  "Plymouth  Rock"  on  which  the  Pilgrims 
disembarked ;  and  the  Tabernacle,  in  Schermer- 
horn  Street,  a  square,  brick  amphitheatre,  said 
to  be  the  largest  Protestant  Church  in  America, 
where  the  Rev.  T.  De  Witt  Talmage,  one  of  the 
most  sensational  preachers  of  the  time,  holds 
forth  weekly.  The  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral, 
which  is  to  occupy  the  entire  block  bounded  by 
Greene,  Lafayette,  Vanderbilt,  and  Clermont 
Avenues,  when  completed,  will  be  one  of  the 
largest  and  finest  church  edifices  in  the  United 
States,  if  the  full  design  is  carried  out. 

The  most  attractive  and  aristocratic  portion 
of  the  city  is  known  as  Brooklyn  Heights,  so 
called  from  its  commanding  altitude,  from  the 
top  of  which  may  be  had  a  fine  outlook  over 
New  York  Bay  and  City.  The  streets  crossing 
this  elevated  part  of  Brooklyn  are  lined  with 
handsome  residences,  which  vie  with  the  costly 
structures  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  its  intersecting 
streets,  and  here  dwell  many  of  the  prominent 
business  and  professional  men  of  New  York. 
Clinton  Street,  on  the  "Heights,"  is  lined  with 
beautiful  residences,  and  is  the  fashionable  prom- 
enade, where  on  a  pleasant  afternoon  or  evening 
may  be  seen  much  of  the  wealth  and  fashion  of 
the  city.  Columbia  Street,  which  reaches  the 
most  elevated  height  in  Brooklyn,  just  at  the 
approaches  of  the  Wall  Street  Ferry,  is  also  a 
charming  promenade,  and  contains  many  fine 
mansions.  The  most  attractive  street,  however, 
is  Clinton  Avenue,  which  is  of  great  width,  orna- 
mented with  splendid  shade-trees,  and  lined 
with  beautiful  residences,  surrounded  by  exten- 
sive and  highly  embellished  grounds.  In  the  lat- 
ter respect,  Clinton  Avenue  surpasses  anything 
which  can  be  found  in  New  York.  Our  illus- 
tration gives  a  view  of  Columbia  Street  on  the 
"  Heights,"  Clinton  Street,  and  Clinton  Avenue, 
which  may  be  considered  among  the  finest  resi- 
dence thoroughfares  of  Brooklyn.  Among  other 
fine  streets  are  Bedford  Avenue,  containing  sev- 
eral large  churches,  New  York  and  Brooklyn 


Avenues,  and  St.  Mark's  Place,  where  there 
are  many  striking  residences  in  the  French  cha- 
teau styie. 

The  "  City  of  Churches  "  has  very  appropri- 
ately the  most  beautiful  and  extensive  cemetery 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  world.    Greenwood,  as  this  great 
j  necropolis  is  descriptively  called,  forms  a  tract  of 
\  nearly  one  mile  square,  comprising  four  hundred 
and  fifty  acres,  and  lying  about  two  and  a  half 
miles  from  Hamilton  Ferry  in  the  southern  por- 
tion of  the  city.    It  is  reached  by  numerous  lines 
of  cars,  and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  but  particu- 
larly during  the  summer,  when  its  undulating 
j  surface  is  covered  with  verdure,  it  will  be  found 
I  a  very  picturesque  and  lovely  spot.  Greenwood 
Cemetery  is  managed  by  trustees  as  a  public 
!  trust,  and  the  fund  for  the  improvement  and  per- 
j  manent  care  of  the  grounds  amounts  to  six  hun- 
j  dred  thousand  dollars.    This  cemetery  was  for- 
mally opened  in  1842,  and  since  that  time  there 
I  have  been  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  inter- 
I  ments.    Many  of  the  lots  are  held  at  a  thousand 
!  dollars  each. 

The  northern  entrance  buildings  are  of  great 
architectural  beauty.  The  recesses  above  the 
gateways  are  filled  with  groups  of  sculpture  rep- 
resenting in  front  our  Saviour's  entombment, 
and  the  raising  of  the  widow's  son ;  on  the  re- 
verse or  inside  may  be  seen  the  carved  represen- 
tation of  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  and  the  Divine 
Resurrection.  It  does  not  lie  within  our  limits 
to  do  more  than  hastily  notice  the  costly  and 
beautiful  monuments,  which  so  thickly  strew  the 
natural  loveliness  of  grass,  tree,  and  lake,  im- 
proved by  the  art  of  the  landscape-gardener  into 
the  most  exquisite  combinations.  Among  these 
memorials  may  be  mentioned  the  following : 
|  The  John  Matthews  monument,  which  was  erec- 
|  ted  at  an  expense  of  thirty  thousand  dollars ;  the 
monument  and  bronze  bust  of  Horace  Greeley, 
I  erected  by  the  printers  of  the  country ;  the 
Brown  Brothers  monument,  erected  to  com- 
memorate the  loss  of  six  members  of  the  fami- 
lies of  the  great  bankers  on  the  Arctic  ;  the  Fire- 
men's monument ;  the  chapel  monument  to  Miss 
Mary  Dancer  ;  the  marble  temple  of  Scribner  and 
Niblo ;  the  Charlotte  Canda  monument ;  the  Sol- 
diers' monument,  erected  by  the  city  of  New  York 
to  those  soldiers  who  had  lost  their  lives  in  the 
late  civil  war  ;  the  James  Gordon  Bennett  statu- 
ary group ;  the  colossal  bronze  statue  of  De  Witt 
Clinton ;  and  the  Louis  Bonard  monument.  All 
these  mementoes  of  the  dead  are  of  great  beauty 
and  lavish  costliness,  and  are  only  a  few  of  the 
remarkable  mortuary  memorials  to  be  seen  by 


11 1 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


the  visitor,  who  may  easily  spend  a  day  In  an  in- 
teresting ramble  through  the  cemetery. 

An  afternoon  may  also  he  delightfully  sp< nt 
in  driving  througb  Prospect  Park.  With  just 
pride  the  people  of  Brooklyn  claim  that  tbil 
great  breathing-spot  surpasses  in  natural  advan- 
tages its  older  rival  across  the  river,  and  there 
are  certainly  features  of  forest  and  plain,  of  hill 
and  dale,  of  rolling  ground  and  extent  of  scenery, 
wliich  with  the  unbiased  visitor  go  tar  to  justify 
the  boast.  The  work  of  laving  out  the  park  was 
not  begun  until  the  month  of  June,  lKtiG,  and  the 
progress  made  is  surprising.  The  ground  was 
purchased  at  an  outlay  of  four  million  dollars, 
and  the  total  cost,  including  improvements,  has 
been  about  nine  million. 

The  area  of  ground  within  its  limits  covers 
five  hundred  and  ten  acres.  The  principal  en- 
trance, on  I'latbiish  Avenue,  know  as  the  I'la/.a,  is 
paved  with  Belgian  pavement,  and  ornamented 
with  a  fine  fountain  and  statue  of  the  late  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  and  is  bordered  by  grassy  mounds 
decorated  with  shrubbery.  The  drives  extend 
over  a  distance  of  eight  miles,  besides  which 
there  are  three  and  a  hall*  miles  of  bridle-road. 


The  pathways  and  rambles  for  pedestrians  are 
,  lined  with  trees,  and  amply  supplied  with  drink- 
!  ing-fountains,  arbors.  ;md  rustic  shelters.  The 
lake  covers  an  area  of  sixty-one  acres,  all  of 
which  are  in  winter  allotted  lor  skating. 

The  highest  point,  Lookout  Carriage  Con- 
course, is  seven  eighths  of  an  acre  in  area,  and  is 
I  a  hundred  and  eighty-six  feet  above  the  ocean 
level.  The  view  from  its  summit  on  a  clear  da\ 
is  wonderfully  beautiful.  Thence  can  be  seen 
the  Highlands  of  Nevisink,  Staten  Island,  the 
Kill  van  Kull,  hills  of  Orange,  the  Palisade-,  etc 
Elegant  resorts  are  scattered  through  the  park, 
furnishing  simple  and  wholesome  refreshments 
for  visitors.  A  grand  boulevard  has  been  opened 
from  the  park  to  the  ocean,  two  hundred  and  ten 
feet  wide,  and  six  and  a  half  miles  long,  making 
perhaps  the  most  delightful  drive  in  the  vicinity 
of  New  York.  At  the  southern  end  of  the  park 
is  a  parade-ground  of  twe  nty-ii \ e  acres  rued  by 
the  National  (iuard  of  the  two  cities  for  semi- 
annual inspections,'  and  at  other  times  for  polo, 
cricket,  base- ball,  and  other  manly  games.  On 
Saturday  afternoons  a  fine  band  plays  in  the 
park,  and  attracts  many  additional  visitors. 


Bird  s-eye  View  of  Atlantic  Docks,  Brooklyn 


OTHER  POINTS  OF  INTEREST. 


DECKER  BROTHERS'  PI  A  NOS. —  WHERE  THEY  ARE  MADE. 


One  of  the  busy  establishments  of  New  York  City  is  the  Manufactory  of  the  celebrated  Piano-forte  makers, 
Messrs.  Decker  Brothers,  whose  instruments  have  attained  a  world-wide  reputation.  Here,  under  the  personal 
supervision  of  the  founders  of  the  house,  the  vast  detail  of  all  that  appertains  to  the  manufacture  of  a  perfect 
instrument  goes  on.  Their  buildings  are  situated  at  Thirty-fifth  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue,  and  are  well  worthy 
a  visit  of  those  who  are  interested  in  witnessing  the  many  and  varied  processes  by  which  this  instrument  is 
produced. 

The  foundation  of  the  house  of  Decker  Brothers  was  unostentatiously  laid  in  1862,  with  a  small  capital  in 
money,  but  a  capital  large  in  experience  in  all  that  was  necessary  to  produce  instruments  to  sell  to  a  critical 
public — experience  gained  by  an  acquaintance  from  their  earliest  youth  with  every  (even  the  minutest)  detail 
of  the  mechanism  of  the  piano-forte,  and  by  having  filled  the  most  responsible  positions  in  the  establishments 
of  the  earlier  manufacturers  of  our  time.  They  indulged  in  no  rosy  fancies  of  sudden  popularity  and  a  quickly- 
realized  fortune.  Of  simple  tastes,  they  undertook  the  business  not  so  much  as  a  means  to  wealth  as  for  the 
purpose  of  improving  the  manufacture.  Being  practical  artisans  themselves,  and  familiar  with  the  capabilities 
of  every  man  employed  in  the  business  iu  New  York,  they  found  no  difficulty  in  securing  the  services  of  the 
highest  skill  for  each  department.  Good  mechanics  prefer  employment  where  their  ability  is  not  only  well 
paid  for,  but  is  also  properly  appreciated,  and  the  estimation  in  which  the  Decker  Brothers  were  held  was  such 
as  to  cause  the  leading  journeymen  in  other  factories  to  seek  engagements  at  their  hands. 

The  instruments  manufactured  by  this  firm  fully  realize  the  standard  of  what  a  well-made  piano,  for  tone 
and  durability,  should  be.  The  firm  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  representative  piano-forte  makers  in  the 
world,  having  won  this  proud  position  by  the  intrinsic  merits  of  the  instruments  of  its  make. 

Their  warerooms,  at  33  Union  Square,  is  also  a  pleasant  place  to  visit.  Here  will  be  found  many  superb 
specimens  of  artistic  skill  in  this  direction,  both  as  to  musical  excellence  and  exquisite  exterior  ornamentation 
and  finish.  Strangers,  even  if  not  intending  to  purchase,  but  who  wish  to  examine,  will  be  welcomed,  and  af- 
forded every  opportunity  for  testing  the  tone  and  for  the  inspection  of  the  finish  of  their  pianos.  The  location 
of  the  building  is  convenient,  being  on  the  most  prominent  thoroughfare  in  the  city. 


146 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED. 


We  give  illustrations  of  the  stores  of  Messrs.  A.  T.  Stewart  k  Co.  on  other  pages  in  the  body  of  this  work, 
where  they  are  but  just  mentioned  as  we  pass  along  up  Broadway.  But  here  we  gi?e  ■  more  extended  account  of 
these  most  wonderful  establishments,  not  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  Ncw-Yoi Kcr-,  ibr  then-  is  probably  not  one 
who  does  not  know  all  about  them  thoroughly  ;  but  in  answer  to  the  inquiries  of  the  stranger — for  hoik 
ever  come  to  our  city  but  they  seek  out  and  visit  "Stewart's."  The  building,  located  on  Broadway  and 
Chambers  Street,  is  six  stories  in  height,  overlooking  the  City  Hall  Bark,  and  runs  from  Chambers  to  Reade 
Streets,  extending  back  on  those  streets  some  three  hundred  feet.  When  erected,  thil  great  block  of  marble  was 
considered  to  be  "  up  town,"  and  twenty  years  ago  it  was  as  fashionable  for  ladies  to  shop  there  as  it  is  now  in 
Stewart's  grander  temple  of  trade  on  Broadway,  Ninth  to  Tenth  Streets.  It  is  constructed  of  the  purest  Westches- 
ter marble,  and  in  the  Corinthian  order  of  architecture,  and  it-  appearance  to-da\  is  a-  fresh  and  pleasing  as  when 
first  opened  to  the  public  nearly  thirty  years  ago.  Within  this  period  many  other  styles  and  orders  of  architec- 
ture have  been  tried  and  adopted  in  the  construction  of  business-edifice-  in  our  city  ;  but,  among  them  all,  none 
appear  more  beautiful  or  better  adapted  to  the  taste  or  the  want-  of  the  immense  business,  to  accommodate  which 
it  was  erected.  Until  recently  this  building  was  completely  devoted  to  the  wholesale  department  of  their  im- 
mense business  ;  but  the  offices  have  now  been  moved  to  the  larger  building  above.  Immense  as  the  stock  dis- 
played is,  it  forms  only  a  small  part  of  the  whole,  as  compared  to  the  mass  of  goods  on  storage  at  the  various 
public  stores  in  this  city,  Jersey  City,  Brooklyn,  and  elsewhere,  many  of  which  are  wholly  filled  with  the  property 
of  this  firm. 

The  retail  establishment  of  Messrs.  A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co.  (see  page  60)  occupies  the  entire  square  of  ground 
contained  within  Broadway,  Fourth  Avenue,  and  Ninth  and  Tenth  Streets,  covering  an  area  of  over  two  acres,  and 
is,  with  its  seven  stories,  containing  over  sixteen  acres,  devoted  alone  to  the  retail  trade  of  this  gigantic  concern. 
This  building  is  the  first  and  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  world  constructed  wholly  of  iron,  standing  alone,  unsup- 
ported by  any  surrounding  walls.  It  is  an  enduring  monument  to  the  mind  that  conceived  it  and  to  the  architect 
who  executed  it.  With  no  obstructions  to  the  eye,  upon  entering,  the  visitor  has  before  him,  at  one  glance,  the 
two  acres  of  floor  upon  which  he  stands.  Here,  as  in  the  wholesale  department,  order  is  the  first  rule.  No  un- 
seemly haste  or  bustle  is  allowed,  but  everything  is  quiet  and  business-like.  No  more  beautiful  sight  can  be 
had  in  New  York  City  on  a  pleasant  day  than  can  be  obtained  by  a  visit  to  this  establishment.  On  the  first, 
second,  and  third  floors,  are  exhibited  the  finest  productions  of  Europe  and  America ;  while,  looking  down  from 
the  dome  upon  the  vast  multitude  of  ladies  and  customers  usually  trading  within  these  acres  of  space,  a  view  is  to 
be  had  the  like  of  which  can  be  found  nowhere  else,  either  in  this  country  or  Europe. 


NEW  YORK  ILLUSTRATED.  U1 


W.  H.  SCHIEFFELIN  &  CO?S,  CORNER  WILLIAM  AND  BEEKMAN  STREETS. 


W.  H.  Schieffelin  &  Co.'s  large  and  well-known  drug-house,  in  William  Street,  is  in  one  of  the  most  active 
business  centres  in  the  city.  Their  establishment  is  the  oldest  and  most  extensive  in  the  country ;  it  was  origi- 
nated before  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  has  now  the  confidence  of  a  vast  constituency,  extending 
tnrough  all  parts  of  the  Union.  This  vast  warehouse,  through  all  its  numerous  stories,  is  crowded  with  goods  in 
every  department  of  their  multifarious  business,  and  the  stir  and  bustle  of  their  immense  trade  would  interest  and 
surprise  the  stranger. 


148 


LIFE  INSC  It  A  NCK. 

Life  Insurance,  though  hardly  known  in  this  country  thirty-five  years  ago,  has  grown  to  he  one  of  it*  most 
important  financial  interests,  and  one  which  has  a  direct  hearing  upon  the  welfare  of  thousands  of  women  and 
children  at  a  critical  period  of  their  lives.  We  have  selected  as  a  representative  of  this  interest  the  New  Yore 
Like  Insi  kanck  Company,  one  of  the  old  pun-ly  mutual*,  whose  history  covers  nearly  the  whole  period  of  the  life- 
insurance  business  in  this  country,  and  whose  a-. ,  pro.-],ei  ity,  honorable  dealings,  and  present  ..landing,  combine 
to  make  it  representative  of  the  best  features  of  American  Life  Insurance. 

The  Company's  Home  Office,  346  and  :M8  Broadway,  New  York  (an  illustration  of  which  we  give  on  page  19 
of  this  work),  was  erected  by  the  Company  in  1868-'70.  The  ground  dimensions  are  sixty  feet  front  on  Broadway, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-six  feet  on  Leonard  Street,  seventy-one  feet  wide  in  the  rear,  and  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  feet  on  Catharine  Lane.  This  site,  being  cent i ally  located,  i-  one  of  the  most  valuable  in  the  city,  and  has 
long  been  a  favorite  one  with  New-Yorkers.    It  was  formerly  occupied  by  the  Society  Library. 

The  building  presents  an  imposing  exterior.  It  is  built  of  pure  white  marble,  in  the  Ionic  style,  the  design 
having  been  taken  from  the  Temple  of  Erectheus  at  Athens.  The  portico  at  tlx-  principal  .  nt ranee  is  twentv  feet 
in  width,  projects  four  feet  from  the  main  building,  and  has  double  column-  on  eat  h  -ide.  I  pon  these  rests  a 
cornice,  with  a  broken  pediment,  in  which  is  set,  in  sculptured  marble,  the  in-L'nia  of  the  Company,  viz.,  an 
eagle's  nest,  and  an  eagle  feeding  her  young.  The  coat-of-arms  of  New  Fork  Citj  appropriately  crowns  the  front 
of  the  edifice.    The  roof  is  of  iron,  and  the  building  is  tire  proof  throughout. 

The  interior  of  the  building  is  in  keeping  with  its  general  character— simple,  elegant,  and  perfectly  adapted  to 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  erected.  The  offices  of  the  Compain  are  at  the  did  of  the  hall,  on  the  first  floor. 
The  main  room  takes  in  the  whole  width  of  the  building,  and  i-  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  long  through  its  centre. 
Side-rooms  at  the  rear  end  serve  as  offices  for  the  President  and  Vice-Pre>ident,  Medical  Examiners,  and  Directors, 
and  as  fire  and  burglar  proof  vaults  for  the  securities  and  hooks  of  the  Company.  Agent-  of  the  Company 
occupy  a  part  of  the  second  Moor,  and  the  remainder  of  the  building  [fl  rented  for  stores  and  offices. 

The  substantial  character  of  the  building,  its  great  beauty,  and  it.-  perfect  adaptation  to  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  constructed,  combine  to  make  it  symbolical  of  the  financial  soundn.--  and  honorable  dealing  of  the  Com- 
pany, and  of  that  complete  adaptability  to  the  wants  of  the  age  which  ha-  ever  characterized  its  systems  of 


This  Company  completed  its  thirty-sixth  year  December  81,  18S0. 
round  numbers,  as  follows; 


At  that  time  Its  hi-torv  and  condition  were,  in  briet.  and  in 


History,  1815-1SN0. 

Number  of  Policies  Issued   149,00n 

Premium  Receipt!   191,000,000 

Death-Claims  Paid   22,000,000 

Dividends  and  Returned  Premiums  Paid   30.0u0.000 

Payments  to  Policy-holders  plus  Assets   99.000.000 

Excess  over  Premium  Receipts   8,000,000 

Condition,  December  31,  1880. 

Number  of  Policies  in  Force   4S,500 

Total  Amount  Insured   $135,000,000 

Cash  Assets   43,000,000 

*  Surplus,  Company's  Standard  ."   4.200,000 

N.  Y.  State      w     over    9,200,000 


BuImm,  isso. 

New  Policies  Issued    7,000 

Amount  Insured   129,000,011 

Total  Income  


  8,964,000 

Interest  Receipts   2.317,000 

Death  Claims  Paid   1,731,000 

Dividends  and  Returned  Premiums  Paid   2,000.000 

Progress,  etc.,  1880. 

Increase  in  Assets   $4,186,000 

u  Surplus,  at  44.  per  cent   2,000,000 

"      M  Interest  Receipts   284,000 

u      "  Premium     M    643,000 

Interest  exceeded  Death-Claims   586,000 


The  New  York  Life  has  always  maintained  a  deservedly  high  reputation  for  careful  management,  and  for 
liberal  dealing  with  policy-holders.  Its  great  success  has  largely  reduced  the  actual  cost  of  insurance  to  its  policy- 
holders, among  whom  all  the  profits  of  the  business  are  divided,  and  it  continues  under  the  same  judicious  man- 
agement that  has  made  it  a  representative  of  the  life-insurance  business. 

The  conditions  of  a  life  policy  are  simple ;  the  payments  are  small,  compared  with  the  indemnity  promised; 
and,  if  one  has  a  policy  in  a  good  company,  its  ultimate  payment  may  be  regarded  as  sure.  There  are  very  many 
persons  who  can  pay  twenty,  fifty,  or  a  hundred  dollars  a  year  in  life-insurance  premiums,  and  never  feel  the 
poorer  for  the  outlay,  who  would  save  themselves  many  anxious  thoughts,  and  perhaps  save  their  families  many 
privations  and  humiliations,  by  thus  investing  a  part  of  their  surplus  earnings.  The  great  recommendation  of  the 
system  is,  that  the  indemnity  it  furnishes  begins  at  once  to  the  full  amount  of  the  policy,  as  soon  as  the  first  pay- 
ment is  made.  Thus,  for  example,  the  family  of  a  man  who  insures  for  $5,000,  and  pays,  say  the  yearly  premiums 
of  $150,  is  entitled  to  $5,000  at  his  death,  whenever  that  occurs.  If  he  lives  long,  future  payments  are  no  great 
burden,  because  annual  dividends  are  declared,  to  be  used  in  reduction  of  cash  payments  when  so  ordered,  and 
when  he  dies,  be  that  early  or  late  in  life,  the  insurance  is  a  great  blessing. 

*  Exclusive  of  the  amount  ($1, 752,1 65.S2)  specially  reserved  as  a  contingent  liability  to  Tontine  Dividend  Fund. 


150 


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